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Times
6 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Times
Scandinavia's artiest city now has a fascinating new museum
In February a rainbow appeared above the streets of Trondheim and it has stayed there ever since, come rain or shine. It's an artwork by the Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone that spells out the words 'our magic hour' and it acts as a rather cheery beacon for the new PoMo museum that sits beneath it. In the past few years Norway has been busily opening new museums. Oslo unveiled a hulking architectural stack on the harbour front dedicated to the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 2021, with the grandstanding National Museum, which includes a room devoted to the first version of Munch's The Scream, following a year later. Last year a private collection of Nordic modern art was given a dramatic home in the form of the tubular Kunstsilo, a former 1930s grain silo in the southern town of Kristiansand. PoMo, though, feels altogether more personable (£13; In Trondheim's much-loved former main post office — the name comes from Posten Moderne, or modern post office — it's the first museum crafted by the French-Iranian architect and interior designer India Mahdavi, who worked alongside the Norwegian architect Erik Langdalen. Step inside the pistachio-green art nouveau building, built in 1911, and you're met with a luminous white colonnaded space in which giant worm-like sculptures bend and contort, while a cluster of green balloons floating by the skylight resemble plant cells. A gallery shop to one side glows salmon pink, the items on its shelves carefully colour-coordinated; another bright statement is provided by a tangerine spiral staircase that unfurls between the floors. I pass through rooms of Irving Penn still lifes, Catherine Opie nudes and Andy Warhol's Mao, and another that shows contemporary works alongside Piranesi prints and a golden, Afro-haired sphinx by the Brooklyn-based artist Simone Leigh. It's a little random at times but that's often the nature of a private collection: much of the art here was purchased over many years by the museum's founders, Monica and Ole Robert Reitan. There is, of course, work by Munch: a series of bright lithographs set against dark blue walls. And the title of the first of its temporary shows (the museum will stage two each year), Postcards from the Future (running until June 22), nods to the building's history. The exhibition gathers personal perspectives from artists including Louise Bourgeois (via the dangling male figure of Arch of Hysteria) and Katharina Fritsch (via a series of pop arty single-colour holiday images). An 'in between' corridor, soundproofed in black fabric, is intended as a contemplative space. Here I sit on a bench and ponder an inflatable artwork bouncing in the breeze outside, created by the Kuwaiti artist Monira Al Qadiri, who was inspired by a petrochemical molecule. One of PoMo's aims is to help to reset the gender balance by devoting a minimum of 60 per cent of its acquisitions budget to female artists. Right at the top is the cosiest spot in the building. Set amid the eaves, the library is a wood-lined space that resembles a forest cabin or treehouse, its A-frame ceiling covered in a gorgeous patina of wood-blocky prints in pastel pink and green — salmon and squid, seeds and oak leaves. It's a place in which to hole up with an art book and take in the view over the city. 'I was inspired by the folk art I'd seen around Trondheim, which I hadn't been expecting when I first visited,' Mahdavi tells me. 'You tend to think of Scandinavia in terms of its minimal design but there's a lot of craft here.' The architect describes colours as her friends, creating positive vibrations, and says she drew on the palette she saw while walking the streets here: the pinks of salmon and painted doors, the orange of its historical warehouses. 'I was surprised by all the barn reds and mustardy tones,' she says. 'Colour blocks are a real part of the heritage. And the crisp light you get here is just incredible.' • 11 of Europe's best cities for art lovers Despite being Norway's third-largest city, Trondheim is a small town in comparison with many British cities. With Mahdavi's words in mind, I walk around and spot a kaleidoscope of higgledy wood-timbered houses. Crossing the Gamle Bybro bridge into the cobblestoned Bakklandet district takes me over the River Nidelva, the water reflecting the sweet-shop colours of the 18th-century wharves, which now contain cafés and independent shops. At the bottom of a steep hill is the world's only bike lift, a funicular-like track invented in the 1990s, and an unusual concrete sculpture of a huge vintage radio with a man peeking out. The radio is a memorial to Otto Nielsen, an intriguing figure whose career took him from cabaret artist to radio presenter and resistance fighter. Europe's northernmost medieval cathedral, which happens to also be one of its most beautiful, glows soft green from the soapstone it was carved from, its copper steeple etching the sky. Inside are pink granite tiles and a stained-glass rose window that casts an ethereal light over the soaring contours of the vaulted roof. A continuing restoration project, it was built over the tomb of St Olaf, the Viking king (much of 11th-century Trondheim was funded by pillaging forays to England) who converted Norway to Christianity. Latter-day pilgrims can pick up a little wooden effigy of his head for about £35. PoMo isn't the only show in town. It forms part of Trondheim's art quarter, alongside the artist-led KUK gallery (free; and the more traditional Trondheim Kunstmuseum (£12; The latter is not to be confused with Kunsthall Trondheim, which opened in 2016 in a former fire station with a mission to show contemporary artists from around the world. During my visit, the Canadian Turner prize nominee Sin Wai Kin was featured with a witty, time-bending multimedia satire (free; All the galleries are part of the Hannah Ryggen Triennale, named after the radical artist who started weaving anti-fascist tapestries in the 1940s. While Trondheim has carved out a reputation for its contemporary art, it's not the only reason to come here. There are harbourside saunas, including one in a wartime bunker, and a strong music tradition. You can drop by for a craft ale at Bar Moskus, where the owner spins records and local bands take to the tiny stage (drinks from £7; or head to the Rockheim museum, with its section on Norwegian dark metal and a cantilevered roof that changes colour at night (£12; • Read our full guide to Norway And the city's food scene is just as creative as its art one. The renowned local chef Heidi Bjerkan recently closed her Michelin-starred restaurant Credo to concentrate on a new project in Oslo but others are forging ahead. I stop by for a glass of natural wine at Fagn, whose menu includes a beef tartare sandwich and woodruff ice cream (three courses from £45; I also pull up a seat at the chef's table at Speilsalen, a fine-dining restaurant set in the former ballroom at the Britannia Hotel, Trondheim's grandest place to stay, for a champagne lunch of king crab and fennel, and mountain char and gooseberry (from £102). On the other side of PoMo, the Nye Hjorten theatre has just been renovated and has a suitably theatrical bistro, Olga's, serving oysters and lobster rolls (mains from £17; 'Over the years Trondheim has been referred to as the capital of technology and a football city,' says Wil Lee-Wright, who moved here from the UK in 2010 with his Norwegian wife, Ida, and now helps to run Tollbua restaurant. Its chef, Christopher Davidsen, has since won a Bocuse award for dishes such as pollock with verbena and fermented lemon (set menus from £58; 'But I think its art and culinary identity are the most credible.' I make a note to return in August for the Trondersk Food Festival, which showcases the region's incredible seafood and cooking skills. • 10 of the best places to visit in Norway On my final day I take the vintage Grakallbanen tram that trundles up to the hills around Lianvatnet Lake, where locals swim in the summer and snowshoe and ice fish in the winter. Looking down at the colours of Trondheim below me it feels like a pretty magic hour — not just for me but for the whole Jordan was a guest of the Britannia Hotel, which has B&B doubles from £200 ( and PoMo, which has tickets from £13 ( Fly to Trondheim
Euronews
17-02-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Major new modern and contemporary art museum PoMo opens in Trondheim
Trondheim, Norway's third-largest city, has just welcomed a brand-new private museum to its ranks – PoMo, short for Post Office Modern. Its mission is to make art more accessible, challenge gender inequality in collections, and boost the region's cultural scene. Set in an Art Nouveau building that used to serve as the city's post office, PoMo spans five floors and 4,000 square metres. The space is a product of the vision and personal art collection of Monica Reitan and Ole Robert Reitan, who've spent over two decades collecting works from artists like Simone Leigh, Louise Bourgeois, Anne Imhof, and Franz West. Ole Robert, who's also a co-owner of the Norwegian retail and finance giant Reitan AS, believes art should be for everyone. PoMO seeks to 'tear down some of the walls between the art world and most people,' Ole Robert told The Art Newspaper. 'Going into a museum can be a scary thing.' To bring that vision to life, the couple brought in Iranian-French architect India Mahdavi, who worked alongside Norwegian architect Erik Langdalen to overhaul the space. The goal? A colourful, vibrant environment that feels as much like a public living room as it does a contemporary art gallery. As well as improving accessibility, PoMo hopes to redefine the art landscape in the region with regard to gender representation. In a statement in the autumn, the museum said its collection 'aims to create a 'new normal' for Norwegian institutions, dedicating a minimum of 60 percent of its acquisitions budget to women artists to tackle gender inequality in museum collections at large'. The opening exhibit, Postcards from the Future (on until 22 June), dives into the history of the building as a post office, with the postcard serving as a 'thematic metaphor' for the works exhibited. 'Inspired by the diverse perspectives of postcards, the exhibition is presented as a series of small stories where each artist has their own space,' PoMo shares on its website. 'The artists in 'Postcards from the Future' address significant contemporary themes such as community, identity, material culture, nature and urbanity.' Among the works visitors can expect to see is Katharina Fritsch's 'Madonnenfigur' (1987/2024), a striking yellow sculpture of the Virgin Mary that once stood near a church in Trondheim's bustling shopping district; and Louise Bourgeois' two-headed sculpture 'Arch of Hysteria' (2004). Looking ahead to 2026, visitors can wander through Ann Veronica Janssens' fog room, where they'll be surrounded by artificial smog.
