The exhibition “Metamorphoses” displays images developed from some of the more than 100,000 photographic negatives that previously ended up underwater, the museum writes on its website. New images emerged from the damaged negatives, “in many cases they resemble art,” the museum emphasizes, which believes that they can be experienced as “a portal to an inner landscape.”
The SFF board instead states that it is about damage caused by a flood.
"What the museum calls a metamorphosis is in fact the consequence of years of inadequate storage, in premises that have long been known to be at risk of flooding. To present these damages as an aesthetic experience is to make art out of one's own neglect," the board writes in a debate article.
Municipal pipe
Matti Sandin, the exhibition's producer, says that the damage was partly caused by a municipal water pipe that broke in the ground outside the museum in 2021.
This is one per thousand of the 100,000 negatives that so unfortunately ended up underwater when a municipal water pipe leaked, we led a historic rescue effort – the conservation team did an enormous job, many of the negatives were completely restored, he says.
"Metamorphoses" is a temporary part of a larger permanent exhibition of cultural historical photographs.
We have exhibited the photos as they appear. The poetic nature of the texts is a consequence of what emerged when we sat and studied these images.
“Larger retake”
Matti Sandin says he welcomes the commitment from the Swedish Photographers' Association.
I think it's good that they want to have a greater focus on the photographic cultural heritage that we are very committed to – hence this exhibition space that shows the museum's photographic collections.
