The Moderna Museet, especially, houses an exciting permanent collection of Picassos and Modiglianis, an architectural museum and, presently, a much anticipated exhibition of the South African artist, William Kentridge. Inspired by the magical and fantastical, the melancholy and noir, Kentridge has for a long time received worldly acclaim for his sometimes childish, sometimes serious drawings, animations and theatre productions. Stockholm's premier modern art museum now presents two of his most recent and ambitious projects, '7 Fragments for George Méliès & Journey to the Moon' (2003) and 'Black Box/Chambre Noire' (2005). It follows the recent group exhibition, 'Africa Remix' at the same museum, in which, 'Johannesburg: 2nd Greatest City After Paris' was included.
In darkened rooms, black and white silent films are projected onto shadowed walls, playing in conjunction and on repeat, and creating a magical and alluring atmosphere suggesting the theatrical, the dark, the crevices of human psyche and nuances of Surrealism and childish dreams. There is a playfulness and cinematic naivety in the Twenties style, juxtaposed with undertones of adult themes and connotations of a slightly manic temperament. They are inviting and yet disarming, provocative and yet distant and preoccupied. There is no sound - only the breathing of viewers and the sound of footsteps walking around a little room, as people move from one film to another. There is a heavy ambience of unpredictability and the dark unknown, the strange animations that don't really tell stories, but instead hum tunes somehow familiar, somehow forgotten, nuances of things unspoken. It is this concentration on the moving visual, the obvious lack of noise and the busy silence that is so disarming, and somehow so exciting.
In the next exhibit, 'Black Box', the atmosphere of darkness is taken further, with an entrancing theatrical show. It features a small stage on which images are projected, and actual objects and puppets interact with the shadows cast upon them by the filmic projection. It is a spectacle to behold. Although some people seemed disarmed by the sometimes morbid, melancholic subject matter - war, carnage and strange objects pacing the little stage - I found the whole show incredibly engaging in its delicacy, its careful movement and dynamics, and its choreographed provocation. Similar to a magic show, and utterly memorable in its inventive form and provocation, it is a spectacle that is hard to forget, depicting the universal dark crevices of the mind and quickly inhabiting individual memories and the shadows of one's psyche. It follows the tradition of the Dada mavericks, Rodin's portrayal of strange dreams and Edgar Allen Poe's dark stories of dark places, black cats and strange shapes moving in the damp shadows and the slush of melted snow.
After all that magical melancholy sparking up a war-torn skyline, magical illusions of another kind were a worthy and pretty distraction, and I stepped through the snowy streets and shadows in the direction of a fashion show. Parallel to London Fashion Week just across the North Sea and just before the Fashion Weeks in New York, Los Angeles and Paris, Stockholm was having a little spectre of its own. The following day I was taken to see the Fashion Show of the fall 2007 collection by the label, Minimarket (the cutting-edge young designers, twins and their older sister Sofie, Jennifer and Pernilla Elvestedt). They are a young business, but are going places fast - with outlets in New York and London already. Their combination of business sense and attractive designs have not gone unnoticed by the wider fashion industry, and the label recently won the H&M scholarship at the Elle Awards, whose jury enthused: 'It is not only the thoroughly worked-through forms, daring choice of patterns and clever details in the garments, it is also the team's strong will to succeed in the big fashion market that makes these girls winners'.
They are very accessible designs that look comfortable as well as chic and understatedly glamorous. Furthermore, they are extremely versatile pieces that encourage a playfulness in the putting together of an outfit, a simple joy in fashion and an unpretentious celebration of couture. They are simple, and yet sensual, carefully arranged and attractive; clothes that celebrate the female form and yet suggest carefree androgyny at times, with big shirt buttons, plaid prints and baggy trousers juxtaposed with feminine floral prints and soft sunshine-coloured blouses. These girls know the cuts and combinations that work, which, teamed with a playful and flirtatious understanding of modern femininity and attraction, makes for an exciting collection and a label with longevity. This is only the beginning for Minimarket, and an exciting development in the next generation of women's fashion design.
Fashion-du-jour is not all that Stockholm promises for couture enthusiasts. A city offering centuries of fascinating and aesthetically pleasing historic artefacts, couture is well covered as a subject of interest, not only in contemporary fashion shows, but also in an exhibition of the shoes of antiquity at the Royal Armoury. Delicate slippers made of silk and jewels for French-born royalty next to flamboyant red velvet thigh-high boots for a cultured King (or Queen?!), the collection is inspiring and racy, and of interest for anyone curious about the Manolos of antiquity and the dainty dancing feet of princesses past. The permanent collection also houses a vast amount of well-preserved couture of centuries gone, magnificent horses' carriages and a shining, and rather mesmerising, collection of golden, bejewelled crowns.
It is also worth visiting the KA Almgrens Silk Mill, where one can learn about the history of silk manufacture and its international trade, and look at samples of state-of-the-art textiles.
The Dance Museum (Dansmuseet), meanwhile, is hosting a retrospective of the Czech art nouveau painter, Alphonse Mucha (2 February-29 April 2007), who worked mainly in Paris in the early 20th century. His images have been used for decorative purposes for nearly a century and still attract people with their unique and sensual style, his incredibly decadent and yet natural aesthetic, a truly Romantic designer. It is surprising, therefore, to find that as well as stylishly portraying feminine beauty, Mucha also painted politically, with the patriotism of his country in mind, and had a clearly Slavic aesthetic, especially in many of his later works. As a decorative artist foremost, however, Mucha excels in using his natural style and Romantic ideals to produce paintings that exude sensuality and joie de vivre, and a celebration of liberated and natural feminine charm.
Outside, the snow is falling prettily from the powder blue sky and the fresh Baltic air dazzles the atmosphere with a fine glow of winter and beatitude. The city harbours delights of culture and couture, secrets are hidden in the dungeons of the castle and lit up in the palace, moving with the stride of fair models and to the music of modern glamour and casual elegance. Stockholm is a winter palace displaying, in its own style, the treasures of antiquity and modernity alike, bejewelled with curios and bright young things, magic and shadows, experiments and artefacts. So court its treasures and play in its shadows before the snow melts.
Christiana Spens
