Atlantica - 01.09.2002, Side 41

On the night of 18 October, the eyes of
the art world will focus in on Iceland.
Okay, perhaps not the entire art world,
but definitely Scandinavian art connois-
seurs will be tuned in to the Reykjavík
Art Museum at the Harbour House to
find out the winners of the Carnegie Art
Award 2002.
The evening ceremony will mark the
first time since its inception back in
1998 that the opening of the prestigious
Carnegie Art Award will be held in
Reykjavík. And the event promises to
be one heck of a shindig.
The inauguration event will
include an exhibition featuring the
25 participating artists, plus a diver-
sity of Nordic music. Iceland’s prime
minister, Davíd Oddsson, is expect-
ed to join with, among others, the
former director of the Tate Modern,
London, to present the prize cere-
mony. Finally, a party will kick off
with a performance of Icelandic musicians.
Sounds pretty exclusive. For those not invit-
ed, an exhibit featuring the 25 finalists will be
open to the public, running from 19 October to
9 November, before moving on to Scandinavia’s
other host cities and to London.
REALIGNING THE BORDERS
The Carnegie Art Award was established by
Carnegie Investment Bank in order to support artists
in the Nordic countries and to promote contempo-
rary painting. The annual event consists of three
parts: a touring exhibition of selected works, a docu-
mentation of the exhibition in book form, and then the
awards, handed out to four of the finalists. This
year, the 25 finalists were chosen from a group
of 119 nominated artists. The nominees were
chosen by some 30 experts on Nordic con-
temporary painting, each of whom nominat-
ed up to five artists.
Why did an investment bank choose to
make an investment in the art world?
“The Carnegie Investment Bank
ARTIST: HÅKAN REHNBERG
THE CARNEGIE ART AWARD 2002
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