Sixty years after a major Picasso exhibition tied to LKAB's anniversary, the artist's works are back in Kiruna. Kin museum for contemporary art displays 16 pieces on loan from Moderna museet in the exhibition 'Holes in Reality'. The show explores Picasso's legacy alongside artist Dora García, addressing issues of culture, power, and natural resources.
In 1965, a major Picasso exhibition was held in Kiruna as part of LKAB's 75th anniversary. The mining company collaborated with Nationalmuseum and Kiruna municipality for the event in the newly built town hall. Around 100 works by Pablo Picasso were transported from museums and private collectors in Stockholm and guarded by armed security. The exhibition became one of the most noted in Norrbotten's history.
To draw more visitors, a miniature of Picasso's Guernica was shown in the mine, and Nationalmuseum's Carlo Derkert gave lectures to miners. After nine days, the show closed, viewed by 7,000 people, including Prime Minister Tage Erlander and Finance Minister Gunnar Sträng.
Now, almost exactly 60 years later, Picasso returns to Kiruna. Kin museum for contemporary art presents 16 works in the exhibition 'Holes in Reality – Dora García, Pablo Picasso and a Mining Jubilee', on loan from Moderna museet. Spanish-born feminist artist Dora García contributes new pieces that challenge Picasso as a symbol of Spanish art. She also confronts the 1965 exhibition and LKAB's dual roles as educator and exploiter, focusing on current issues like natural resources, land rights, and art's role today.
'Now, sixty years later, views on Picasso have changed. But questions about culture's place in society, the geography of power, and art's possibilities remain just as burning,' says Maria Lind, director of Kin museum for contemporary art.