Scandinavia House

THE SQUARE | SILVER ANNIVERSARY RESCREENS
2026-05-06 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On May 6, see The Square to wrap up our series of Silver Anniversary Rescreens! First screened at Scandinavia House in 2018, this gripping sociological suspense story by director Ruben Östlund dives into the ethics of moral responsibility, privilege, and media sensationalism.

Christian is the respected curator of a contemporary art museum, a divorced but devoted father of two, who drives an electric car and supports good causes. His next exhibition, “The Square,” is an installation that invites passersby to altruistic deeds, reminding them of their role as responsible human beings. But sometimes it’s difficult to live up to your own ideas: When Christian’s phone is stolen, his foolish response drags him into a shameful situation. And when the museum’s PR agency creates an unexpected campaign for “The Square,” the overblown reaction from the public sends Christian, as well as the museum, into an existential crisis.

The Square was shortlisted for the 2017 Oscars as the Best Foreign Language Film nominee. It has received numerous distinctions since its premiere, including six awards at the European Film Awards, including Best European Film; and the Palme D’Or Winner at the Cannes Film Festival, 2017.
“Ruben Östlund’s sprawling and daringly surreal satire The Square turns a contemporary art museum into a city-state of bizarre, dysfunctional and Ballardian strangeness… It sets out to make your jaw drop. And it succeeds.” —Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“[Östlund] creates suspense in a new-fangled way, turning the space between people into an alarming existential battleground.” —Owen Gleiberman, Variety

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This program has been supported by the Monika and Charles Heimbold Fund for Exhibitions and Programs.

NORDIC BOOK CLUB ONLINE | THE SCHOOL OF NIGHT
2026-05-12 18:00 - 19:00 | NY
Read and discuss literature with our Nordic Book Club Online! Nordic Book Club meets monthly via Zoom to discuss contemporary literature in translation. On May 12, 2026, in coordination with our West Nordic art exhibition Inside Voices, Outside Light, we’ll be discussing The School of Night by Karl Ove Knausgård.
Kristian Hadeland, young and ambitious, has moved to London to study photography; he knows that he and his art are destined for more. His family never understood him, and his fellow photography students bore him. But when he meets Hans, an eccentric Dutch artist, the future he yearns for becomes possible—as long as he is willing to sacrifice everything and stop at nothing. Twenty-four years later, Kristian sees his dreams come to fruition when a major retrospective of his work is held in New York City. As his past catches up to him, Kristian’s world begins to crumble. Success comes at a price, but is he prepared to pay it?
In a thrilling twist on Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, Karl Ove Knausgaard masterfully spins a cautionary tale about the lengths that we will go to achieve success—and how far we are willing to fall. His most daring and macabre novel yet, The School of Night is an indelible tale about dark temptations and moral depravity, and what we forget when we bargain with the devil.
The School of Night is available in paperback and e-book from Penguin Random House and from Bookshop.org and other retailers.

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LOVE
2026-05-13 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
“Utterly enrapturing”—On April 29th, see LOVE, Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud’s first installment of the widely acclaimed Oslo Trilogy!
An ambitious trilogy from Norwegian novelist/filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud, LOVE–SEX–DREAMS are three distinct feature films linked by their themes of nontraditional intimacy, but need not be seen in any particular order. LOVE focuses on two colleagues at an Oslo hospital — Marianne, a straight (and straitlaced) doctor, and Tor, a gay male nurse. Both single, they cross paths by chance after hours and confide in each other: Marianne confesses her desire to be more adventurous and open in her encounters with men; Tor shares his fatigue with Grindr hook-ups. Their conversations form the heart of exploration of desire and emotional fulfillment.
“Dag Johan Haugerud’s gently humanistic drama is one of those films that feels akin to a prism, refracting its theme into the array of colors it contains…it’s so beautiful that you want to just keep dwelling in its world.” (Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times)
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SEX
2026-05-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
“A playful, insightful character study”—On May 20th, see SEX, Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud’s second installment of the widely acclaimed Oslo Trilogy!
An ambitious trilogy from Norwegian novelist/filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud, LOVE–SEX–DREAMS are three distinct feature films linked by their themes of nontraditional intimacy, but need not be seen in any particular order. In SEX, two male-identified colleagues who are happily married to women share candidly their secrets: one reveals his unprecedented recent sexual encounter with another man; the other is haunted by a recurring dream featuring David Bowie and his own gender fluidity. Both men — shockingly yet with great sensitivity — seek transparency and understanding with their wives. SEX thus envisions honest, warm-hearted possibilities for gender expansiveness within heterosexual monogamy, while also enacting the intricacy of an authentic and generous love.
“Superbly acted. The film is laced with dry humor but also poignancy and notes of melancholy. [Turns] the male character study on its head with a gentle subversiveness.” (David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter)
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NORDIC BOOK CLUB ONLINE | BEASTS OF THE SEA
2026-06-09 18:00 - 19:00 | NY
Read and discuss literature with our Nordic Book Club Online! Nordic Book Club meets monthly via Zoom to discuss contemporary literature in translation. On June 9, 2026, we’ll be discussing Beasts of the Sea by Iida Turpeinen.
“Turpeinen matches the heights of Andrea Barrett” in this sweeping and intimate tale about a fateful encounter between man and nature spanning three centuries and linked by a long-extinct denizen of the northern oceans (Publishers Weekly starred review).
In 1741, thirty-two-year-old naturalist Georg Wilhelm Steller joins Captain Bering’s Great Northern Expedition to scout out a sea route from Asia to America. Plagued with hardships, captain and crew never reach their goal, but they do make a unique discovery, a gentle giant that will be named for the young explorer who described it: Steller’s sea cow. In 1859, the governor of the Russian territory of Alaska sends his men to recover the skeleton of the massive marine mammal rumored to have vanished a hundred years before. Two years later, a revered Helsinki professor hires a talented illustrator—a woman!—to make precise drawings of a set of bones sent from afar.
The ill-fated beast will help introduce to a skeptical public the concept of human-caused extinction. Finally, in 1952, the Museum of Zoology assigns its most talented restorer the task of refurbishing the antique skeleton, a testimony to the sea cow’s fate that will fire the imaginations of future generations.
A breathtaking literary achievement and an adventure that crosses continents and centuries, Beasts of the Sea is a tale of grand ambition, the quest for knowledge, and the urge to resurrect what humankind has, in its ignorance, destroyed.
Beasts of the Sea is available in paperback and e-book from Hachette Book Group and from Bookshop.org and other retailers.

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