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CULTURE

Five unmissable artsy events across Sweden this week

Get cultured with these events, with everything from photography exhibitions to orchestral concerts in Sweden this week.

Published: 15 September 2016 07:00 CEST
Five unmissable artsy events across Sweden this week
For plenty of paint, music, and a bit of running too, try the Stockholm Color Run. Photo: AP Photo/Rob Griffith

1.  Anton Corbijn exhibition at Fotografiska, Stockholm (September 16th)

Photographer and film director Anton Corbijn has had an enormous influence on the visual portrayal and presentation of the international music scene from the late 1970s until today. With his minimalist yet emotional style, he has shaped the visual identity for several legendary bands such as U2, Depeche Mode and Joy Division. 

Head over to Stockholm’s photography museum this Friday at 6pm for a talk by Corbijn himself, who will then be doing a book signing afterwards. Ikiz Cabin Crew is playing live at 9pm, and all of this is included in the museum’s regular entrance price (120 kronor for adults, 90 kronor for students and seniors, free for children under 12). While you’re there you can check out all the other photography on display too.

Visit Fotografiska’s website for more information about what’s on.


Anton Corbijn at Fotografiska. Photo: Anton Corbijn

2.  Night of Culture, Lund (September 17th)

Lund is hosting its annual Kulturnatten (Night of Culture) this Saturday. The event, which is in its 31st year, expects some 50,000 people to descend on the university town in the south of Sweden. With exhibitions, an African food market, open mics, dance performances and much more all taking place, despite the name, you’ll find events going on throughout the entire day, so Lund is the place to be this weekend for anyone in Skåne.

Check out the website for all the details and the full programme of events.


Lund in southern Sweden. Photo: Per Pixel Petersson/Imagebank.sweden.se

3.  Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No.1 , University of Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (September 16th)

The University of Gothenburg’s Symphony Orchestra will be putting on a concert this Friday at 7pm: the perfect cultural way to spend a Friday evening. Before the Mahler symphony, the audience will be treated to three shorter works, beginning with Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman, composed as a feminist reaction to Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.

For what promises to be a rousing performance, including a work by Wagner, check out the event’s ticketing page.


Orchestral violinist. Photo: Jurek Holzer/TT

4. The Color Run, Stockholm (September 17th)

This Saturday, the Color Run comes to the Swedish capital, so dress yourselves in white and get over to Globen in the south of the city for a much less strenuous alternative to next week’s Lidingöloppet, or last week’s Stockholm Half Marathon.

In fact, the Color Run really isn’t a race at all – with a different colour of paint at each kilometre mark on the 5K run, you’re expected to take the time to get yourself covered, and stop to enjoy the music performances dotted along the route too. The rules are that you come dressed in black and that you leave multi-coloured. This one’s ideal for families, young adults, or just about anyone. This is a night version, so make get there ready for an 8pm start.

See the website for all the information you need on taking part.


The Color Run. Photo: Valentin Flauraud/TT

5.  Along A Frosty Coast – Concert, Luleå (September 20th)

For an enriching concert with music from the Gulf of Bothnia’s west coast, check out 'Längs en frostig kust' (Along a frosty coast) at Kulturens Hus in the northern city of Luleå this coming Tuesday.

The mainly female composers will treat the audience to song, violin and piano, and with children under 16 getting free admission, this is something to take the kids too as well.

To soak up the culture in Luleå, visit the event page.


The trio has taken its musical inspiration from the coast of northern Sweden. Photo: Friluftsbyn Höga Kusten/imagebank.sweden.se

For more things happening in Sweden, check out the calendar below.

 

 

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READER INSIGHTS

‘Benny is always very kind’: Foreigners’ top encounters with Swedish celebrities

We asked The Local's readers to tell us of a time they met a Swedish celebrity. Here are their best stories.

Published: 16 April 2024 11:10 CEST
Updated: 16 April 2024 14:27 CEST
'Benny is always very kind': Foreigners' top encounters with Swedish celebrities

Some readers shared stories of encounters with Swedes who are also global stars, such as Abba or the King and Queen of Sweden, others spoke of meeting national celebrities who had helped them get to know their new home country.

Anne Foo from Malaysia is a fan of the Sällskapsresan movies by Lasse Åberg, who plays the kind but hapless Stig Helmer.

“It was one of the first Swedish films I watched when I first moved to Sweden that I could understand without needing to be fluent. It helped me understand the Swedish psyche and their humour and Swedish people in general,” she said.

Multi-talented artist Åberg is also known for his sketches of Mickey Mouse, as well as Trazan & Banarne, one of Sweden’s most famous children’s shows, and his band Electric Banana Band. Anne met him when she visited his museum, Åbergs Museum, outside of Stockholm.

“We were not expecting to see him there but we kind of heard he pops by the museum often to help out. We bought tickets for the guided tour and lucky us the guide fell sick (sorry guide!) and Lasse, who happened to pop by just then, took over and gave us a personal guided tour of his museum. He is just as he was as Stig Helmer. Has a down-to-earth humour, very intelligent and humble.”

Another reader, Doug, met Swedish singer Lisa Nilsson when she was performing the lead role in the musical Next to Normal at Stockholm’s Stadsteater, a performance she got rave reviews for.

“I have loved Lisa Nilsson for years, ever since Himlen runt hörnet was required listening in my Swedish class,” he wrote on The Local’s Facebook page.

“After the performance I waited by the stage door to see if I could meet her. Many people came out, but not her – until finally she exited, alone. I approached her and she was not just gracious – she seemed genuinely excited to meet an American fan. We stood (in the rain, no less) and spoke for a while. I came away feeling that my adoration was well-placed: talented, beautiful, and so down to earth. A wonderful entertainer and an extraordinary human being.”

Some readers also shared pictures of themselves running into a Swedish celebrity.

Benjamin Dyke met football coach Sven-Göran Eriksson in Torsby, where Eriksson grew up, at the opening ceremony of the Svennis Cup, a youth football competition held every year in his honour.

Eriksson, more known by his nickname Svennis in Sweden, during his long career coached teams such as Lazio in Italy and brought England, as coach, to the quarter-finals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups. Earlier this year he disclosed he had been diagnosed with fatal pancreatic cancer.

Dyke’s encounter with Eriksson happened a few years ago, and he walked up to the Swede to thank him for his time as England manager and the two chatted for a while about that.

“He asked where I came from in England and I answered that all my family come from Liverpool. His eyes lit up (I now know he supported Liverpool all his life, as did his dad) but when I explained that I was an Everton fan (the other Liverpool team…) he quickly shut down the conversation and walked away,” said Dyke.

Sven-Göran Eriksson, left, and Benjamin Dyke in 2018. Photo: Private

Readers also shared their stories on The Local’s Facebook page. Lindelwa posted a picture of her chance meeting with Swedish Melodifestivalen winner John Lundvik at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport, although she revealed they did not share a flight.

Lundvik represented Sweden in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Too Late for Love (and co-wrote the UK’s entry, Bigger than Us, the same year), with which he came in fifth.

Lindelwa and John Lundvik. Photo: Private

Gerard met Abba legend Benny Andersson outside his studio in Stockholm.

“I had never seen Benny’s studio so I went to take a look with the ferry from Djurgården to Skeppsholmen. I was told that Benny was in so I waited for a little while and he came out to meet a few fans,” he said, revealing that it was in fact not the first time he ran into Andersson, a composer also known for co-writing hit musicals such as Chess and Kristina from Duvemåla.

“He’s always very kind and patient. I had met him before, last time in 2010 in London for the concert of Kristina at the Royal Albert Hall. Next stop will be May 27th, the second anniversary of Abba Voyage in London where Benny and Björn will do a Q&A before the show.”

Gerard and Benny Andersson back in 2010. Photo: Private

Several other readers also said they had met members of Abba.

“I was a child visiting my relatives in Sweden the year Voulez-Vous was released. My aunt took me to NK [Stockholm mall] to buy the LP. On our way back to her apartment, she spotted Frida on Hamngatan. My aunt was amazing at celeb-spotting, and she was usually very discreet, but in this case she insisted I go up and say hello! Frida was happy to autograph the album for a young fan; it’s still one of my prized possessions today,” said Sue Trowbridge.

Of course, it’s not always easy to recognise celebrities. You might spot a familiar face but not be able to place it, as happened to Linda on two separate occasions when she ran into a Swedish acting star and a member of the Nobel Prize-awarding Swedish Academy.

“I accidentally stared at Pernilla August in a local food shop. She looked familiar but I couldn’t recognise her. She stared back and I suddenly came to my senses and looked another way. Embarrassed. I’ve also stared at Horace Engdahl,” she said.

In The Local’s original survey call-out, we also included a story from Australian reader Jake Farrugia, who was on his lunch break in NK when he spotted a familiar face, Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria. He walked up to her to ask for a selfie.

“She was very nice and we shared some small talk which truly made me feel like we were on the same level and that she had a strong sense of humanity, as I stood there, butchering her native language with my ‘work in progress’ level of Swedish. I can see why the Swedish people have a deep love and respect for her,” Farrugia said.

“It’s a very un-Swedish thing to do, that’s why I think it’s so fun! All of my encounters with celebrities in Sweden have been very positive so far. It’s all in the approach, you have to be respectful and be OK with others not wanting to give you their time of day, since we all have days where we are feeling less social and those can easily be interpreted as a part of our character, but they rarely are a fair representation.

“If I were to be a celebrity, Sweden would be the place to best blend in. It seems like celebrities can live a somewhat normal life as the construct of ‘celebrity’ isn’t viewed as a thing people go hysteric for as is the case in many other countries.”

The Local’s reader Jake Farrugia snapped this selfie with Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria. Photo: Private
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