The exhibition Apocalypse: From Last Judgement to Climate Threat takes the viewer on a journey through end-of-the-world fantasies, prophecies, dystopian critique of society – and magnificent artworks oozing of angst and creative desire. Featuring a broad selection of paintings, sculptures, video works and prints in a dramatic setting, it presents the art history of doom from the Renaissance until today.
Remarkable artworks from the Museum’s own collection meet contemporary art and significant loans from European museums, including works by the Romantic artists Johan Christian Dahl and John Martin, the Symbolists Ferdinand Hodler and Evelyn De Morgan, and international stars such as Georg Baselitz and Anselm Kiefer. Contemporary artists like Anna von Hausswolff, IC-98 and Cajsa von Zeipel are represented with audio works, videos and sculptures.
The exhibition is based on two research projects. From Pompeii to Fukushima: Time, intermediality and transregional imaginaries in disaster discourse (Anders Ekström et al.), which examines the mediation of disasters from the spectacular theater of the 18th century to today’s news imagery, and Religion and the Natural Sciences in Early Modern Scandinavia (Håkan Håkansson), which explores, among other things, the role of apocalyptic prophecies in the intersection of science and religion in 16th- and 17th-century Europe.
In conjunction with the exhibition, we produce a comprehensive catalogue with newly written essays by numerous researchers and writers who provide different perspectives on the theme, as it is expressed in art, literature, film and computer games, among other media.
Apocalypse: From Last Judgement to Climate Threat
Editor: Kristoffer Arvidsson
Authors: Kristoffer Arvidsson, Anna Davour, Anders Ekström, Åsa Ericsdotter, Emma Fraser, Fredric Gunve, Håkan Håkansson, Ella Jax, Eva Nygårds, Sofia Roberg, Patrik Steorn och Simon Stålenhag
Graphic Design: Ateljé Grotesk
Hardback, illustrated, 217 pages
ISBN: 978-91-989130-0-2
Price: 285 SEK