Outsiders and magicians

Narrator
The fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of the Cold War, marked a historical turning point…

The dissolution of the Soviet Union symbolized a new chapter of political freedoms, and the breakdown of boundaries, but also a renewed search for identity and belonging.

This was an era of change. Globalization was further enhanced by the public birth of the internet. Music, Art and ideas were suddenly accessible to all.

In Paris, in 1989, a groundbreaking exhibition opened titled "Magiciens de la Terre" and was devoted to so-called outsiders.

These were artists who were considered outside the mainstream, some of which were from non-Western countries.

Amongst these, were people such as Louise Bourgeois, a French American artist, and Seni Awa Camara from Senegal.

Camara exhibited two terracotta sculptures reminiscent of the one in the National Museum’s collection.

Camara and Bourgeois were placed side by side, and this positioning of well-known Western artists with relatively unknown non-Western artists was unprecedented and pioneering.

Bourgeois and Camara were presented as central artists of the alternative and more canon-critical art history, which was emerging.

It reflected change, and the increasing globalization of art in the 1990s.

Through personal stories and experiences, the artists in this room tackled topics such as identity, sexuality, gender and ethnicity.

Iver Jåks – one of the first Sami artists to break through both nationally and internationally – is represented here with his strongly, socially critical work, Discrimineringens påle, highlighting the systematic oppression of the Sami in Norway…

Using their position as an artist – a classic outsider role – as a positive force, artists in this room tell their personal stories, and to the public debate on current topics.