Lisa Rosendahl

Lisa Rosendahl is a Swedish curator and writer based in Berlin. She was the curator of the 2019 and 2021 editions of the Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA). Since 2018, she is Associated Professor of Exhibition Studies at Oslo National Academy of the Arts. For the last few years her curatorial practice has been engaged in long term projects researching industrial
Modernity and extractivism in Scandinavia, resulting in exhibitions such as Extracts from a Future History (Public Art Agency Sweden, 2017) The Society Machine (Malmö Konstmuseum 2016-17) and Rivers of Emotion, Bodies of Ore (Trondheim Kunsthall, 2018). As a freelance, she writes and lectures internationally and has curated exhibitions at Moderna Museet (Stockholm) Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen) and INIVA (London) amongst other places. Previous positions include Curator at Public Art Agency Sweden (Stockholm, 2014-17) Director of IASPIS, the Swedish Arts Grants Committee's international program for visual art, architecture, design and craft (Stockholm, 2011-13) Director of Baltic Art Center (Visby, 2008-10), Director of Electra Productions (London, 2006-7, maternity cover) and Director of Exhibitions at Lisson Gallery (London, 2003-6).

What I am working on now / current interests

As a curator I am interested in situated practice, context-specificity, and how curators practice in embodied and subjective ways. I am also interested in the non-linearity of art exhibitions and how this can create conditions for historical narration beyond the conventions of historical museums and academia. At the heart of my practice is the recognition of the curatorial as a relational way of working, and the potential this brings for critically re-thinking the notions of agency and autonomy in the field of art.

Pedagogogical approach and expectations of students

I teach Exhibition Studies across all year groups. My courses include Exhibition Histories, as well as advanced study groups focussing on questions of curatorial practice, spatial narration, and exhibition practice, from various perspectives. My courses are usually a mix between history (looking together at past examples of exhibitions, tracing the lineages of the development of the exhibition as a medium), theory (studying the way exhibitions are theorised) and practice (focusing on the practicalities of exhibition-making as well as developing a common vocabulary for how we speak about exhibitions). I am also available for individual tutorials.