More than 500 artworks, photographs and objects by contemporary and modern artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Pentti Kaskipuro and Edvard Munch are among the pieces revealed as part of New Nordic. Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place
Photography by Andreas Kleiberg featuring Bielke&Yang, visual identity for Food Studio, 2012
Words by Jessica-Christin Hametner
Oslo’s National Museum of Norway has opened a new art, design, architecture and craft exhibition, curated by Martin Braathen and Inger Helene Stemshaug. Entitled New Nordic. Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place, it features over 500 artworks, photographs and objects, including loans by contemporary artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Pentti Kaskipuro and Edvard Munch.
The cross-disciplinary exhibition explores how New Nordic Cuisine, a movement that started in the early 2000s, has evolved globally in close dialogue with similar developments in architecture, design, craft, photography and art. Rooted in local materials and traditions, it has since grown, creating a distinctive aesthetic recognised the world over.
‘The idea of rooting the culinary project in the local landscape connects strongly to architectural ideas of critical regionalism – that there is a possible creative, and political resistance to unsustainable, global capitalism in embracing local resources,’ says Braathen, senior curator at the National Museum.
Photography by Lars Petter Pettersen featuring tableware made by Odd Standard for Oslo restaurant Kontrast
‘Many New Nordic restaurants created local, holistic systems, based on what they found in wild nature and cultivated landscapes around them, building new production systems outside of the globalised, industrial food system,’ continues Braathen of what inspired New Nordic. Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place.
‘On a more concrete level, foraging, and using the landscape as material resource, resonates with many contemporary art and design practices, from an interest in immaterial cultural heritage, to new materialist approaches,’ adds Braathen.
Foraging shows up in many of the artworks in the exhibition; a wooden langoustine press made by chef Magnus Ek of Oaxen Krog is displayed alongside medicinal herbs in Miriam Hansen’s …And Slumber Might Return (2021).
Photography courtesy of Olafur Eliasson and BONO featuring Olafur Eliasson, The Fault Series (detail), 2001
Architectural models and photographs by Norwegian firm Jensen & Skodvin are presented next to contemporary artworks, such as Olafur Eliasson’s Fault Series (2001), which captures tectonic shifts in Icelandic landscapes. Benjamin Alexander Huseby’s delicate still-life photographs also feature.
‘Foraging connects to the circular material culture we see in contemporary Sami art and architecture, for example in the practice of Joar Nango, and his non-hierarchical use of found materials, both from nature and man-made,’ says Braathen. ‘This extends to other approaches to circularity and creative reuse in contemporary architecture and design.’
To the curators, each piece holds special significance. From hand-crafted objects and tableware by Michelin-starred Norwegian restaurants such as Kontrast, Maaemo and RE-NAA in Norway to Fäviken in Sweden, Kadeau in Bornholm and Koks on the Faroe Islands, the exhibition highlights how nature serves as both material and muse for chefs, ceramicists and designers across the Nordics.
Photography courtesy of National Museum / Ina Wesenberg featuring installation view of New Nordic. Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place
‘New Nordic Cuisine has created such a rich material and visual culture, which really becomes visible when being collected and presented in a museum,’ explains Braathen what the importance of showcasing the influence of New Nordic Cuisine is beyond the culinary and in a museum context.
‘By contextualising that movement in a museum for art, architecture and design, exploring topics such as vitalism, critical regionalism, intangible cultural heritage and phenomenological approaches to place, and mirroring it in our collection, it becomes obvious that it was part of a larger cultural movement in our time, as well as showing connections across time.’
When a group of chefs originally published a 10-point manifesto back in 2004, advocating for a contextual, localised approach to cuisine, little did they know their principles, rooted in seasonality, would inspire creatives and artists two decades later. Their vision sparked a global shift by emphasising the importance of local traditions and the use of natural ingredients shaped by the region’s climate, water and soil.
Photography courtesy of Gallery Nordenhake featuring Mikael Olsson, Oaxen skärgårskrog
Utilising natural materials like untreated wood, unbleached fabrics, paper and plant-based decorations, the ideas were rooted in culinary practices. But it was a shared mindset that prioritised material honesty, hyper-locality and eco-consciousness which extended further into their engagement with culture, place and identity.
‘I think the great impact of the movement was its impulse to be curious about the full potential of the landscape around you,’ explains Braathen. ‘The encouragement to look at your surroundings with new eyes, from mapping materials and resources to just experiencing and being present in a specific place, creates a crucial foundation for sustainable awareness and creative innovation.’
Alongside the museum’s collection, the curators have extended the exhibition with a commissioned pavilion outside, designed by London-based practice Dyvik Kahlen and Danish landscape architects SLA. Bringing the New Nordic ethos to life through a programme of events, visitors can participate in design workshops, foraging trips and meals prepared by the likes of Stockholm’s Magnus Ek of Oaxen Krog.
Photography courtesy of National Museum / Ina Wesenberg, featuring installation view of New Nordic. Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place
To further encourage dialogue among the public, the exhibition is accompanied by a beautifully curated publication from the National Museum. Entitled A New Nordic A to Z, it is themed around the movement and features entries on topics such as ‘Bread served as a separate course,’ ‘Bro dining,’ ‘Microregionalism’ and ‘Sour sausage’, plus so much more.
‘I hope that we can open the discussions of how gastronomy belongs to the creative arts,’ shares Braathen. ‘And how ideas and artistic strategies travel across fields – that both our regular audience can get new perspectives on food and its relation to the landscape and the other arts, and that new and food interested audiences can learn more about the relation of gastronomy to other fields.’
As New Nordic Cuisine evolved from a culinary movement into a broader cultural philosophy in recent years, New Nordic. Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place demonstrates how its emphasis on locality and seasonality has inspired a new generation of artists and designers to reimagine their relationships with materials, landscapes and traditions.
Photography courtesy of courtesy of Gallery Nordenhake featuring Mikael Olsson, Oaxen skärgårskrog
‘I know many are sceptical about gastronomy on this level, that it is too expensive and exclusive,’ adds Braathen. ‘While that is a fair stance, and exclusivity is a severe challenge, I hope we can broaden that perspective.’
Celebrating the relationship between plate and object, the National Museum’s exhibition invites visitors to consider how the ethos and aesthetics of food culture can nourish creative practice tomorrow. Whether through regionally sourced textiles or natural pigments, New Nordic. Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place shows how shared values can spark new forms of creative expression.
‘Art and design are very exclusive for the same reasons, but the difference is that society has developed an infrastructure to democratise art through museums and other institutions, as well as encouraging research, development and exchange through scholarships, residencies, and so on,’ he continues.
‘Gastronomy doesn’t have the same privilege, and most innovation and artistic development happens within a commercial sphere. Would more people be able to acknowledge the value of gastronomy if we changed how it was distributed?’
A further iteration of the exhibition will travel to the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, opening in November 2025
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