New Nordic – Architecture and Identity

Louisiana poster featuring the photograph of the Trollstigen project by Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter, photographed by Ken Schluchtmann. Shown at Louisiana's exhibition New Nordic - Architecture and Identity in 2012.  New Nordic was the first exhibition in a new series at Louisiana, which will explore architecture's relationship to culture and identity: Is there a Nordic identity? Does The Nordic Way exist? Can identity still be understood as something tied to specific places, despite globalization's tendency to blur national and cultural differences? And if so, how has the Nordic identity evolved in tandem with the rest of the world's development? These are some of the questions the exhibition focused on.

Louisiana's exhibition series on architecture's relationship to culture and identity deals with architecture as a field where collective memories and narratives are reflected materially and spatially. This exhibition aimed to uncover whether some particular – Nordic – traits recur in architecture, and whether there is a fundamental design language that is still being reinterpreted.

Through three themes, the exhibition explored how the latest developments in the five Nordic countries are taking shape. The themes unfold the new Nordic, including a rediscovery of tradition. But now the geographically specific qualities are used in new ways; traditions are reinterpreted and borders are crossed instead to be sharply defined.

The Nordic may manifest itself especially through the collision between the architect's cultural roots, the professional tradition, and the fact that the global perspective is an unavoidable condition for people today.