Nationalmuseum Stockholm Explores 1989 Through Visual Culture

The Nationalmuseum Sweden in Stockholm will present the exhibition "1989 – culture and politics" from September 5, 2019 to January 12, 2020, marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. The show examines visual culture from this radical historical period, featuring photographs, portraits, posters, videos, and design works by artists including Richard Avedon, Guerrilla Girls, Andres Serrano, Barbara Kruger, and Nan Goldin. It mixes high and popular culture, juxtaposing global perspectives with local Swedish scenes. Alongside political resistance posters from Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the exhibition includes mobile phone design, Jeff Koons' postmodernism, Roxette music videos, the rise of video games, and the fashion of big shoulder pads. The exhibition revolves around themes of freedom, liberation, and the disintegration of boundaries, reflecting on the late 1980s and early 1990s as a historical breaking point.