Friday, 13 June 2025, 16:00–22:00
Free admission – everyone is welcome. No registration required.
Looking for a night out that’s anything but ordinary? On Friday, June 13, Gothenburg Museum of Art joins forces with Copenhagen’s legendary SMK Fridays to bring you an after-hours museum takeover packed with creativity, energy, and surprise.
Step into a world where art comes alive through immersive performances, live music, creative workshops, hands-on experiences, and personal art talks that take you behind the scenes. Dive into a sound bath in the middle of an exhibition, freestyle embroider messages of self-love, or let your body move with the art in a performance that blurs the line between viewer and creator. All scheduled talks will be conducted in Swedish.
Need a break from exploring? Grab a bite, sip something chilled, and catch the sunset to a live DJ set on the rooftop terrace – all while soaking in one of Sweden’s biggest and boldest art collections.
It’s free, it’s open to everyone, and it’s the kind of night you’ll be talking about long after it ends.
Programme
16:00–16:15
Dance Performance: Art, Movement, and Bodies with or without Disabilities
The dance company Spinn explores the essence of dance and what it could be with three dancers wearing masks.
Götaplatsen
16:00–22:00
Creative Workshop: Future Builders
Build the future with us! Whether it be a space station, an underwater world, a skyscraper, a treehouse, or something completely different. Let your creativity run free as we collectively imagine alternative futures.
In the Studio – drop in any time
16:00–22:00
Evening Soundtrack: Sven Wunder
Dusty soundscapes, crackling beats, and alluring tones await you. Enjoy a curated playlist by Swedish sound artist Sven Wunder, specially crafted for the night.
Check back soon for location details
16:15–16:35 / 17:15–17:35 / 19:00–19:20 / 21:15–21:35
Sound Performance: Gong & Sound Bath
Surrender to a meditative sonic experience as Ylenia Fiorini guides you through a sound bath with gongs, koshi chimes, and singing bowls, all amidst the museum’s artworks.
Meeting point: the foyer
16:15–16:35
Artist Talk: Art and Climate Anxiety
Artists and climate activists Gabriella Kalmar and Karin Elmgren present their video artwork, Arvedel. Gabriella Kalmar shares her insights behind the piece.
Meeting point: the foyer
16:30–16:50 / 19:15–19:35
Conservator Talk: White Gloves and Transformation of Artworks
Join painting our paintings conservator, Malin Borin, as she uncovers the hidden secrets of artworks. What stories are hiding beneath the layers of paint?
Meeting point: the foyer – limited seating, free tickets available at the front desk from 16:00
16:30–17:00 / 18:00–18:30
Performance Walk: Mobile Mirror
Reflections, interactions, and transformations. Experience a poetic performance by Danish artist Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen.
Outdoors
16:30–16:45 / 18:15–18:30
Art Talk: Gender, Beauty, and Power Dynamics
Come along with our art educator, Jonna Kihlsten, as she delves into Baroque portraits, where we examine beauty ideals and uncover subtle power dynamics depicted in the painting.
Meeting point: the foyer
16:45–17:05 / 18:45–19:05
Art Talk: Stories from Angered
An artwork has many meanings. Listen as young poets Ritta Haider, Jasmin Rama, Fardowsa Adam, and Mohammed Haj Kadour from the project Stories from Angered share personal reflections on selected works in the collection.
Meeting point: the foyer
16:45–17:05 / 20:15–20:35
Curator Talk: Apocalypse – The Allure of Catastrophe
Collapsing cities, volcanic eruptions, and melting glaciers: curator Kristoffer Arvidsson examines apocalyptic imagery ranging from biblical tales to modern war and climate change concerns.
Meeting point: the foyer
17:00–17:15 / 18:30–18:45 / 20:15–20:30
Vocal Performance: ilinx
Be immersed in the sonic universe of the experimental vocal group ilinx, as they fill the space with hopeful songs surrounded by art.
Meeting point: the foyer
17:00–17:15 / 19:15–19:30 / 20:30–20:45
Art Talk: Hip, Hip, Hurrah!
Join our art educator, Ivan Perugi, as we journey through a festive gathering in Skagen while focusing on a Danish artwork from the museum’s collection.
Meeting point: the foyer
17:15–17:30 / 19:30–19:45 / 21:00–21:15
Art Talk: Creative Minds and Great Art
Come with our art educator, Anna-Lena Åsemyr, as we delve into van Gogh’s painting Olive Grove, Saint-Rémy, where we shall discover his dynamic brushwork under a radiant sky.
Meeting point: the foyer
17:30–17:45
Dance Performance: Art, Movement, and Bodies with or without Disabilities
Three masked dancers from the dance company Spinn challenge our perceptions of dance.
“SpinnOut” in the Apocalypse exhibition
17:45–18:00 / 20:00–20:15
Talk: Touching Embroidery
Kris Jensen discusses their poetic and transformative project, Følsomt Broderi, a textile-based diary that reflects on life’s big and small challenges.
Floor 5, Gallery 9
17:45–18:05 / 20:00–20:20
Art Talk: From Paris to Gothenburg
Dive into the story of the Fürstenberg couple with Gothenburg Art Museum curator Eva Nygårds as we explore Gothenburg’s most prominent 19th-century collectors and patrons of the arts.
Meeting point: the foyer
18:00–19:00 / 20:15–21:15
Workshop: Touching Embroidery
Embroider your emotions with Kris Jensen—poetic freestyle embroidery of self-love amidst grand paintings.
Floor 5, Gallery 9 – drop-in
18:00–18:30
Conversation: Art, Community, and Change
Listen to Patrik Steorn, the head of the Gothenburg Art Museum, and Marie-Louise Dunker Nielsen, the deputy director of SMK, discuss the role of museums in 2025. How can art and culture impact individuals and society?
Meeting point: the foyer
18:30–18:50 / 20:45–21:05
Art Talk: Fossil Futures and Future Prehistories
Gothenburg Art museums Head of Exhibitions and Collections, Anna Hyltze, explores Kuwaiti artist Monira Al Qadiri. How does the artist use oil as both motif and metaphor?
Meeting point: the foyer
19:00–19:15
Dance Performance: Floating Away with the Threads
Dive beneath the surface with Ida Häggström from the dance company Spinn as she embodies a jellyfish who loves swimming, dancing, and floating away.
Meeting point: the foyer
19:30–20:00
Music: Paperwing
Cinematic grandeur, futuristic pop, and dreamy ambience. Composer and producer Jenny Soovik, known as Paperwing, creates a soundscape that captures grand emotions and fleeting moments draped in goosebump-inducing avant-pop.
Sculpture Hall
20:00–20:15
Performance: Cool in Warm Tones
A lecture performance by Emilia Wärff from the dance company Spinn reflecting on Sweden’s most common white wall colour (0502Y) and why we love that colour but still choose black.
Meeting point: the foyer
20:30–21:15
Performance: Mobile Mirror
Consider yourself seduced as three dancers in mirror-clad costumes take over the museum with pop hits and powerful reflections. Welcome to a performance by Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen as she exposes our bodies and consumption habits.
Performance Walk: 20:30–21:00
Performance: 21:00–21:15
Sculpture Hall
21:15–21:30
Dance Performance: White and Fresh
Hannah Karlsson from the dance company Spinn presents a delightful surprise performance that shifts between the serious and the playful.
Meeting point: the foyer
Practical Information
No pre-registration is required, and admission is free. However, it may get crowded, and lockers are limited. Please avoid bringing heavy coats, bags, and valuables if possible.
About SMK Fridays
SMK Fridays is the popular art event at Denmark’s National Gallery, SMK – Statens Museum for Kunst. Since 2013, it has been Copenhagen’s social and experimental Friday happening. The programme changes each time, but the recipe always includes a great mix of art, music, talks, performances, cold drinks, and hand-held food. Always based on SMK’s extensive collection of 700 years of art and its current exhibitions – and always with a wish to surprise and offer new perspectives on art, history, ourselves, each other.
Bikubenfonden has supported SMK Fridays throughout the years. In a new partnership, SMK and Bikubenfonden will develop SMK Fridays in the coming years with a focus on diversity, digital innovation, learning and knowledge sharing, and international perspectives.
About SMK – Statens Museum For Kunst
SMK is Denmark’s National Gallery. With a collection of more than 260,000 works, it is the country’s largest art museum. As Denmark’s principal museum for visual art, SMK has a special responsibility to support the development of the entire museum sector and to strengthen collaboration with national and international art institutions.
SMK Fridays x Gothenburg Museum of Art is supported by
BIKUBENFONDEN
Photo: Linn Carlson.
