Person with long wavy hair sits on a stool in a gallery, looking at the camera, wearing a navy jacket; left wall covered in blue Life posters.

In the Studio Robin Kid, Rambouillet, France

Robin Kid works with images that feel less made than encountered. Cowboys, cops, fragments of cartoon Americana: images that existed long before he picked them up, suspended somewhere between memory and mass culture. Raised in the south of the Netherlands by his grandparents, in a former mining neighbourhood bordering an American army base, he grew up with the idea of the U.S. glowing faintly from the other side of the fence.

Adult female with blonde ponytail in a dark sweatshirt stands with arms crossed amid tall cacti in a sunlit garden.

In the Studio Megan Plunkett, Los Angeles, CA

American artist Megan Plunkett turns away from depicting people, instead focusing on everyday objects. Drawn from consumer culture, and the film industry, her carefully constructed photographic series cultivate a sense of estrangement within things that might otherwise feel familiar.

Older woman with red hair stands between two tall wooden frames in a dim sculpture studio, surrounded by unfinished wooden sculptures.

In the Studio Elisabeth von Samsonow, Vienna/Lower Austria

Elisabeth von Samsonow is a philosopher, artist, author and emeritus professor of Philosophical and Historical Anthropology at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. In her work she brings together art, ecological concerns and feminist theory.

Blonde-haired person in a white dress sits on a black sofa, smiling, in a library with colorful book-filled shelves.

Collector Stories Sanna-Mari Jäntti, Helsinki

With the initiative to establish a Guggenheim museum, the city of Helsinki has undertaken yet another step to raise its profile among an international art scene that could benefit the entire Nordic region. We met Sanna-Mari Jäntti, who has played a crucial role in the Guggenheim Helsinki project (that unfortunately has been discontinued), to talk with her about the initial challenges of the project, how David beat Goliath in the world’s largest architectural competition, and how doing it the “Finnish way” made all the difference.

Culture Briefing

Where to meet art, culture and creativity

Nordic Notes

Smiling adult person leaning on a large painting panel in an art studio with framed canvases nearby.

Reima Nevalainen, Porvoo
Humans and nature serve as the subject matter of Reima Nevalainen’s multi-layered collage paintings – not as conflicting elements, however, for human gestures and nature coexist as equals in his compositions. He mines his subject matter from personal experience, trusting in the intuitive power of the subconscious.
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