With the exhibition An Order of Things, Malmö Konstmuseum explores how the ideas behind the encyclopedic museum continue to shape the way we see, organize, and understand the world, while constantly being challenged and transformed by new perspectives and ways of seeing.
When Malmö Konstmuseum was founded in 1841 as part of Malmö Museum, the ambition was to create an encyclopedic collection in the spirit of the Enlightenment — a universal system of knowledge in which the world could be mapped and made comprehensible through collecting and categorizing. Within this framework, natural history, ethnographic, archaeological, and art historical objects were gathered side by side as parts of a shared worldview.
But classifications and systems are not neutral acts. To name and organize is also to create boundaries, hierarchies, and values. An Order of Things makes these structures visible and reflects on how museum collections both enable and limit our understanding of the world, and how these ideas continue to shape contemporary knowledge production.
The exhibition title draws inspiration from The Order of Things by Michel Foucault, subtitled An Archaeology of the Human Sciences (1966), in which he demonstrates how systems of knowledge are constantly changing and being replaced. In a similar way, An Order of Things creates a setting where historical systems encounter contemporary interpretations.
The exhibition is divided into thematic rooms — natural history, ethnography, archaeology, and art history — where works from the collections of Malmö Konstmuseum and Malmö Museum are presented alongside works by contemporary artists who question or reinterpret these categories.
Among the participating artists are Ida Brockmann (DK), Mark Dion (USA), Maxime Hourani (LB), Clara Ianni (BR), Irene Margrethe Kaltenborn (NO), Michael Rakowitz (USA), and Cecilia Westerberg (DK).
As a dialogue with the exhibition, The Condition Report, curated by Marie-Nour Hechaime and Sara Rossling, presents video works by artists Noor Abed (PS), Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Omar Mismar (LB), and Nour Ouayda (LB), exploring the politics of conservation and care, and how stories and experiences are often rendered invisible within museum systems.
In the project I Like Maps Because They Lie, curated by Marika Reuterswärd, the dual nature of the map is explored — both as a scientific tool and as a cultural construction — where power, subjectivity, and symbolism are interwoven.
Antikvariatet Anti has curated a library of books available to read on site. In different ways, the books resonate with the exhibition’s themes and invite both reflection and engagement.
Together, these perspectives create space for reflection on what it means to organize the world, which stories, bodies, and experiences are included within these systems — and which are left outside them.
Kilde:
Malmö Konstmuseum
Malmö Konstmuseum