Galleri Nicolai Wallner is pleased to present the latest group exhibition, The Hot Show, opening January 9. Featuring 23 artists and more than 40 works, the exhibition is composed of artists who attended the Malmö Art Academy.

This chosen convergence speaks to an interest in the position the Malmö Art Academy as it has developed over the last two decades. Since 1995, the school has eschewed a discipline or technique based practice, disposing of such divisions, focusing instead on the fundamental relevancy of ideas and concepts as they pertain to artistic development.

Under the careful direction of Gertrud Sandqvist—current Professor in the Theory and History of Ideas of Visual Art, Principal and Artistic supervisor of the Programmes in Fine Arts and the Doctorial Programmes—this openness was cultivated and structured in a manner that would allow each student to, in essence, create his or her own education. The fluidity in curriculum gives way to a subsequent fluidity within the ebb and flow of each year’s concentration—as all students are accepted not for a specific media, but rather because of their practice and work. As such, each year has had a different amount of students working within different disciplines. Adding to this fact, as part of the Academy’s structure, each student maintains a given studio space within the building. This kind of individuality combined with this prescribed proximity creates a certain uniqueness, as small differences and fluctuations in manners of practice, method and ideology take on an even greater importance.

The participating artists in this group exhibition however, are not graduates from a singular year, but rather are graduates from the past several years. Their inclusion was guided and inspired by the artist Joachim Koester—who has not only been long-represented by Galleri Nicolai Wallner, but who is also a professor at the Academy. The exhibition is curated by Marie Gellert Jensen and Rasmus Stenbakken.

What The Hot Show attempts to explore, and what the driving, penultimate question becomes, is what happens to the continued work of a group of students who have studied under the development of these changes and institutional practices. Much like the structure of the Academy, The Hot Show does not focus on a singular discipline, but rather on the direction that each artist has taken up of his or her own accord. The result is a charged atmosphere, the roots of which become apparent as each of the over 40 works hold their own in and amongst themselves, an indication of the coming together of a specific yet dynamic mindset.

The Hot Show features works by Andreas Albrectsen, Anika Schwarzlose, Aurora Sander, Balthazar Berling, Bjarni Tor Petursson, Christian Bang Jensen, Danilo Stankovic, E.B. Itso, Emelie Sandström, Emil Rønn Andersen, Helene Garberg, Helene Nymann, Ihra Lill Scharning, Isabelle Andriessen, Jóhan Martin Christiansen, Kaare Sebastian Golles, Kah Bee Chow, Karin Hald, Lily Benson, Max Ockborn, Niilas Helander, Sandra Mujinga and Shirin Sabahi.