The American-Scandinavian Foundation is pleased to announce A Time for Everything: 25 Years of Contemporary Art at Scandinavia House, opening on October 18, 2025. Presented in conjunction with the 25th Anniversary of our cultural center, which has welcomed over 3 million visitors since opening its doors in October 2000, this group exhibition of internationally acclaimed Nordic artists — all of whom have presented work in the Scandinavia House Galleries over the past 25 years — will underscore the vision of the Galleries as a steward for new and established Nordic voices in the contemporary artistic landscape, and for promoting the exchange of ideas and culture between the United States and Nordic region.
Participating artists include Torbjørn Rødland (NO), Jesper Just (DK), Simen Johan (NO), Marianne Huotari (FI), Irene Nordli (NO), Louisa Matthíasdóttir (IC), Eija-Liisa Ahtila (FI), Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson (IC), Margrethe Aanestad (NO), Shoplifter / Hrafnhildur Arnasdóttir (IC), Britta Marakatt-Labba (Sapmi/SE), The Icelandic Love Corporation (IC), Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir (IC), Cecilia Edefak (SE), Randi Samsonsen (FO), Ole Brodersen (NO), Pekka & Teija Isorättyä (FI), Katrín Sigurdardóttir (IC), Mamma Andersson (SE), Sara-Vide Ericson (SE), Jeppe Hein (DK), Jan Groth (NO), Olav Christopher Jenssen (NO), Outi Pieski (Sapmi/FI), John Savio (Sapmi/NO), Esko Männikkö (FI), Susanne Wellm (DK), and Olof Marsja (Sampi/SE).
On view through February 2026, the exhibition will be accompanied by a range of related programming including artists’ talks and panels, workshops, guided gallery tours, and family activities. The October 18 opening will be the first of a wide range of Anniversary events including a film series with screenings and talks on the most critically acclaimed cinema at Scandinavia House over the years, as well as lectures, symposia and concerts with notable Nordic cultural figures.
Borrowing from the title of the seminal 2004 book by Karl Ove Knausgård, A Time for Everything presents a diverse range of work in a variety of media by celebrated Nordic artists: from Marianne Huotari’s reimagined version of the traditional Finnish textile technique ryijy via glazed stoneware sculptures, to Pekka & Teija Isorättyä’s humorous and delicate play on mechanical and digital engineering and the beauty of machines, to the surreal nature of painter Thordis Adalsteinsdottir’s ultra-flat compositions combining anthropomorphic animals and eccentric non-sensical objects, which evoke whimsy while belying a more sinister undertone. Curiosity, humor, criticality, artifice, reverence for the natural world and romanticism appear throughout Torbjørn Rødland’s work (and often in the same image), while the powerful and influential woodcuts of John Savio are arguably the first modern Sámi artistic expression from the 1930s. The exhibition also premieres new works by a number of leading Nordic artists: Margrethe Aanestad, Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Sara-Vide Ericsen, Britta Marakatt-Labba, The Icelandic Love Corporation, Shoplifter/Hrafnhildur Arnasdóttir and Katrín Sigurðardóttir.
Organized by The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF), the exhibition has been curated by Emily Stoddart, Manager of Exhibitions at Scandinavia House. Major support has been provided by the Monika and Charles Heimbold Fund for Exhibitions and Programs. Additional support has been provided by the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.