Market Art Fair's Dubious Sponsorship and Nordic Homogeneity

Market art fair in Stockholm, now in its 20th edition with 54 galleries from eight countries, has moved from Liljevalchs to a hangar-like venue in Frihamnen, a change criticized as a downgrade. The fair continues its sponsorship with SEB, a bank implicated in financing Israeli weapons suppliers and supporting arms exports to countries with human rights abuses. Arvida Byström's AI-generated video 'PET: Projected Emotional Technologies' (2026), shown by Steinsland Berliner, stands out as the only work engaging with contemporary digital themes like AI and OnlyFans, featuring animal-like performers in therapeutic sex sessions. The fair is dominated by figurative Nordic landscape painting, with notable presentations by Olafur Eliasson at i8 Gallery, Clara Gesang-Gottowt and Carola Grahn at Nicolai Wallner, and Petra Lindholm at Magnus Karlsson. Indigenous perspectives are largely absent, except for Carola Grahn's Sami identity work and Inuuteq Storch's Greenlandic photography at Wilson Saplana. The critic laments the fair's commercial focus, lack of experimental art, and the moral ambiguity of its sponsorship, while noting a new confidence among 11 galleries established since 2020.