Fra det ene til det andre

The exhibition Fra det ene til det andre (literal translation: From one thing to another) exemplifies an unusual approach to the museum exhibition format.

Normally, museum exhibitions are carefully planned down to the tiniest detail. The list of artists and works is made by the curator well in advance of the exhibition, so that all planning and logistics will flow as smoothly as possible for everyone involved. The registrar prepares lists of works, the conservator keeps track of the works in need of conservation, the museum educators prepare outreach activities such as tours and workshops, the communications department receives material they can use in marketing, and so forth.

Leading up to Fra det ene til det andre, this level of detailed planning has been absent. The exhibition is created through improvisation, and the final selection is only made when the works are mounted on the walls. In other words, the curatorial process and installation take place at the same time, as a form of freestyle. 

This is primarily made possible by the fact that the exhibition consists of works solely from Haugar's own collection. The logistics are simple; the works will go directly from storage to the exhibition walls. Only at the beginning of the installation period will the curator enter the storage to select works, one by one, based on intuition and whim – a process the Swiss curator Harald Szeemann called "whims and moods".

The visitors may not notice any difference if the exhibition had been planned and executed according to normal practice. That is, however, beside the point, because the process is ultimately just a working method and an experiment. The experiment challenges the museums' usual planning regime and impacts the tasks of the museum educators. The absence of an overarching thematic concept will allow for a more work-oriented perspective on both the exhibition and the outreach activities.

The result of this working method remains unknown until the last work is carried out from storage, but currently most of the collection's more than 600 works are possible candidates. The idea is that the exhibition will present a varied and potentially surprising juxtaposition of artworks: Fra det ene til det andre.