Contemporary art and psychiatry in the Nordic countries
Kunsthall Dikemark is co-organising the seminar Contemporary Art and Psychiatry in the Nordics, on Wednesday, 29 October at Sankt Hans in Roskilde.
The seminar is organized by a new Nordic network that explores the role of art in closed psychiatric hospital settings across the Nordic countries. The network consists of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde, Kunsthall Dikemark in Asker, and Public Art Uppsala.
Supported by the Nordic Culture Fund, the network will organize three seminars between 2025 and 2027, taking place at Sankt Hans in Roskilde, Dikemark in Asker, and Ulleråker in Uppsala.
The seminar in Roskilde is the first in the series and focuses specifically on artistic strategies and methods related to work within closed psychiatric hospital settings. It takes as its point of departure the current exhibition Kaååååålines Vers and features artistic contributions from Ida Rasseli, Malin Bülow, and Johan Ibrahim Adam.
The Nordic network has been established to facilitate the exchange of experiences and cooperation between places and countries where art institutions and actors explore how art can contribute to the transformation and development of closed psychiatric institutions.
Kunsthall Dikemark (formerly Trafo Kunsthall ) has worked for several years at the psychiatric hospital Dikemark, located outside Asker. In 2025, Kunsthall Dikemark established in the former laundry. Kunsthall Dikemark collaborates closely with Dikemark psykiatriske sykehusmuseum , Asker kommune and Akershus fylkeskommune .
Public Art Uppsala is a department in Uppsala Municipality that works specifically with art in public spaces, also in connection with the development of new areas. Art has been central to the work of shaping the former psychiatric hospital Ulleråker, with a number of art projects between the buildings and artistic studios in the hospital's old premises. Public Art Uppsala was the initiator of the establishment of the Nordic network.
The Museum of Contemporary Art Roskilde was established in 1991 and is a state-recognized museum with a particular focus on time-based art forms such as performance, video and sound. In 2021, the museum left its permanent exhibition building and has since operated as a nomadic museum. Since 2023, the museum has realized four exhibitions at Sankt Hans that have in different ways related to the history, present and future of the place – to psychiatry, nature and our care for those who are mentally ill, or who in other ways stand outside the norms of society.
The seminar is supported by Nordisk Kulturfond Kunsthall Dikemark's work into the network is supported by Akershus fylkeskommune and Norsk kulturfond .