Anu Põdra’s first solo show in Sweden opens at Moderna Museet

Estonian artist Anu Põdra’s first solo exhibition in Sweden opens at Moderna Museet Malmö on October 24, ERR reports. The exhibition will move to Moderna Museet in Stockholm in spring 2027 and to Finland’s EMMA art museum in autumn 2028.

The show brings together works from three decades, tracing Põdra’s artistic development and a shift in focus from bodily experience to consumption and criticism of capitalism. Around 70 works by the artist are known, and 20 are on display in Malmö. The works have been loaned by the Art Museum of Estonia, the Tartu Art Museum and Põdra’s estate. Five drawings from the estate are being shown to the public for the first time.

Moderna Museet Malmö curator Andreas Nilsson and Stockholm curator Jo Widoff said Põdra’s distinctive approach challenges conventional ideas of sculpture and raises questions about memory and humanity. Nilsson said he was struck by her use of everyday, often delicate materials to convey both the vulnerability and strength of the body.

Art Museum of Estonia director Sirje Helme said the collaboration with Moderna Museet was a significant continuation of Põdra’s growing international recognition. Her work has been shown at the Venice Biennale in 2022 and at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris this summer, she said.

A catalogue published by Moderna Museet accompanies the exhibition. One of its contributors is Anders Härm, a curator at Kumu Art Museum. The catalogue also includes an account by EMMA curator Ingrid Orman of the work by Art Museum of Estonia conservators to make an exhibition copy of Põdra’s 1998 work “Tongues.” The museum owns the first original version, made of soap; London’s Tate acquired a second version in 2021.

Põdra, who died in 2013, was an Estonian sculptor and installation artist. She experimented with abstract forms and materials ranging from plaster and textiles to light and scents. Her work drew on personal experience and everyday surroundings, and often emphasised the presence and wear of works made for a particular time and place.

Founded in 1958, Moderna Museet is Sweden’s national museum of modern and contemporary art. Its Malmö branch opened in 2009.