Introduction

Greetings by curator Anna Tellgren

Narrator: Welcome to Sleepless Nights – an exhibition of art from the 1980s in the Moderna Museet collection.

My name is Anna Tellgren, and I’m the curator of the collection of photography at Moderna Museet. I also curated this exhibition.
 
The decade between the political seventies and the more subdued nineties was a period of change. It was characterised by economic boom and crisis. The art market took off with the economy and became very commercialised, but the alternative art scene also flourished.
 
Postmodernism dominated the debate – from philosophy and politics to visual arts, literature, dance and architecture.
 
Discussions ranged from the meaning of language to sociological analyses of the difference between high and low culture.
 
In the 1980s, the rise of HIV and AIDS had enormous consequences, and many artists were committed to fighting for the rights of the victims and the culture of silence around this deadly disease.
 
The Moderna Museet collection reflects this period. Works by international megastars were acquired. But more importantly, a large number of works by famous and unknown Swedish artists were also added. This exhibition highlights a number of seminal women artists with an explorative approach to art and life.