STOCKHOLM.- Market Art Fair (15–18 May 2025) returns for its 19th edition as Scandinavia's leading fair for contemporary art. Set against the blooming spring backdrop of Stockholm’s Djurgården, in a city coming alive with art, this year’s expanded fair—featuring 51 galleries and over 150 artists at Liljevalchs Konsthall—responds to a rising global demand* for the region's distinctive artistic vision.

“The world is looking north” says Lars Nittve, Chair of Market Art Fair’s Selection Committee. “For anyone seeking to understand why Nordic art matters now more than ever, Market Art Fair - the world’s most northerly art fair - remains the essential destination.”

What you’ll discover at Market Art Fair and across Stockholm this Spring

• How Nordic and Sámi artists confront climate collapse and colonial legacies—reimagining resilience, memory, and sovereignty at a time of unprecedented global attention on the Arctic region.

• The artists re-casting femininity for the digital age from Arvida Byström’s AI nude selfies to Camilla Engström’s eco-feminist landscapes.

• Why the works of rediscovered genius Iria Leino and artist and eco-activist Atti Johansson are more relevant than ever.

• Why global institutions are acquiring Nordic Artists at record rates: snapping up work that reflects the region’s blend of myth, ecology, and post-digital critique.

• Space to reflect on the world with talks on AI, Sámi sovereignty, art activism with Human Rights Watch and Bildkonst Sverige (Visual Arts Sweden) who advocate for visual literacy as civil defense in an age of image manipulation.

• Stockholm’s must-see exhibitions beyond the fair: showing Stockholm’s thriving institutions and commercial gallery scene - from Lap See Lam and Mike Kelley at Museet Moderna to Artipelag, a contemporary cultural center in Stockholm’s Archipelago.

• A city where art is everywhere: from parks to prisons and power stations, fueled by Sweden’s 1% art rule (mandating art investment in public spaces)

Sara Berner Bengtsson, CEO and Director of Market Art Fair, says: “Nordic Art resonates powerfully in today's art market. Whether through Sámi perspectives that fuse folklore with imagined pasts and futures, explorations of Arctic ecologies or an ability to merge tradition with radical experimentation. Complementing the work of artists re-wiring reality, our talks programme applies a Nordic lens to issues ranging from Sámi sovereignty and art activism with Human Rights Watch to the urgent need for visual literacy as civil defence in an age of disinformation and image manipulation.”

Market Art Fair 2025: Themes & Points of Note

Nordic Women Lead the Charge in Reclaiming Representation

Two historically overlooked artists will be brought to the forefront through solo presentations: Iria Leino, FI (1932–2022) (Larsen Warner, SE), whose luminous abstractions remained hidden until her death in 2022, and Atti Johansson, SE (1917 - 2003) (Belenius, SE) whose artistic protest against modern technology’s destructive forces feel more relevant than ever. Contemporary Nordic women artists making waves internationally include Emma Sarpaniemi, FI (Helsinki Contemporary, FI) and Arvida Byström, SE (Steinsland Berliner, SE) who both offer critiques of femininity in the digital age.

Craft-based art resonates in a Post-Industrial Era

Several artists are reinventing the Nordic region's craft traditions through radical innovation. Icelandic artist Loji Höskuldsson, IS (V1 Gallery, DK) blends ancient textile techniques with a playful punk sensibility, while Josefin Bravo, SE (Galleri Duerr, SE) shapes molten glass into radical sculptural forms. At Galleri Hedenius, SE, Anja Fredell, SE deploys an industrial tufting gun to create physically intensive textile works, and Bella Rune, SE (Galleri Magnus Karlsson, SE) reimagines traditional textile methods through unconventional materials. Completing this visionary group, Petra Lindholm, SE’s site-specific textile assemblage will be premiered in one of the stairways of Liljevalchs Konsthall as part of Market Extended (Galleri Magnus Karlsson, SE).

Indigenous Perspectives & Ecological Consciousness

Inuuteq Storch’s, GL intimate snapshots of daily life in Greenland (Wilson Saplana Gallery, DK) offer a poignant counterpoint to the Arctic’s climatic and geopolitical tensions. Meanwhile, the Sámi worldview takes centre stage in the fair’s talks programme, with artist Carola Grahn, SE advocating for Indigenous sovereignty in art and a discussion with Kiruna’s groundbreaking Kin Museum for Contemporary Art, exploring how experimental programming can bridge Sámi perspectives, Arctic ecologies, and global art at Europe’s northernmost contemporary art institution.

Ecological consciousness permeates the works of many artists at the fair. The duo Inka & Niclas Lindergård, SE (Dorothée Nilsson Gallery, DE) examine how constant exposure to nature imagery—through social media and AI—reshapes our perception of the natural world, while Icelandic artist Lilja Birgisdóttir, IS (Þula, IS) redefines waste, giving discarded materials new life through mixed media. Landscape as a medium for reflection appears in the works of Danish artists Astrid Specht Seeberg and Magnus Fisker (Hans Alf Gallery, DK) whose pieces engage in a dialogue about human existence and our deep connection to nature. CFHill, SE further explores these themes in a duo exhibition featuring Swedish artists Isak Hall and Ester Eriksson, whose works merge into a visionary reimagining of landscape.

Nordic Transcendence & Mythology

In an age of rationality, artists at Market Art Fair reveal the mystical just beyond the realms of the everyday. Iria Leino’s life and artistic practice were deeply intertwined with spiritualism, echoing Hilma af Klint, who is portrayed in a revelatory new novel by Ida Therén, which the author discusses at the fair. Camilla Engström, SE (Carl Kostyál UK/SE/IT/HK) channels similar transcendence through dreamlike landscapes. Mythology remains a vital force in Nordic art, from Lap-See Lam’s The Altersea Opera (Venice Biennale 2024) to Emma Ainala, FI’s (Helsinki Contemporary, FI) paintings blending feminine mythologies with digital and physical realms. Alexander Tovborg, DK explores religious narratives and symbols through vivid figurative works. His collaboration with BORCH Editions, DK—a trilogy of large-scale etchings created to accompany each of the three books of The Divine Comedy—culminates in the Paradiso series, debuting at Market Art Fair 2025. It will be presented alongside Tacita Dean, UK’s large-scale Inferno, a ten-metre print in eight parts showing Dante and Virgil’s descent into Hell.

International Artists at Market Art Fair

For the first time since its inception, Market Art Fair is expanding its scope by welcoming artists without Nordic ties, including Franco-Moroccan artist Amine Habki, FR and British-Nigerian artist Ranti Bam, UK, both presented by Andréhn-Schiptjenko, SE/FR; Berlin-based Sophie Reinhold, DE, presented by Nordenhake, SE/DE/MX; and several Netherlands-based artists presented by Dutch newcomers Janknegt Gallery, NL and Mini Galerie, NL. The 19th edition of the fair will feature artists with roots spanning Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Sapmi, the UK, US, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic, Colombia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Morocco, Nigeria, Brazil, Japan, Romania, Italy and Spain.