CHAT WITH THE CURATOR | NORDIC ECHOES
2025-06-19 18:15 - 18:50 (America/New_York) | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On view through August 2, 2025 at Scandinavia House, Nordic Echoes — Tradition in Contemporary Art is the first major traveling exhibition of contemporary Nordic folk arts and cultural traditions from the Upper Midwest. Featuring 55 works by 24 contemporary artists whose practices are grounded in Nordic traditional skills, the exhibition will showcase the persistence and creativity of these traditions in the U.S. Looking at painting and textile traditions as well as works in wood and metal, Nordic Echoes highlights how variations on traditional themes and innovations have led to the emergence of living, evolving forms, exploring themes of identity and belonging as well as how traditions have been shaped by their U.S.-based environments. The exhibition is accompanied by a range of programming, including artist panels, artist-led workshops, folk concerts, and film screenings.
Prior to select events throughout the exhibition’s run, curator Sally Yerkovich will introduce the exhibition with comments on the artists and their practices, and will be present to chat about the exhibition during self-guided tours of the show. This includes all events during a special “Midsummer Week” from June 14 to 19, in celebration with the holiday’s storied background in Nordic traditions. Curator Chats meet in the Gallery elevator lobby.

SWEDISH MIDSUMMER CONCERT
2025-06-19 19:00 - 20:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us for a Musical Midsummer Performance Concert with traditional music by Reprise, a group featuring Paul Dahlin and fiddlers from the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis! Held alongside our ongoing exhibition Nordic Echoes — Tradition in Contemporary Art, this program takes place during a week-long series of special folk events in honor of Midsummer.
Featuring: Paul Dahlin; Daniel Dahlin; Kristin Niehaus; Jennifer Olson; Ingela Haaland; Ruth Lemire; Frances Olson; Raine Nyembwe; Linnea Peters; Ross Sutter; Marikay Dahlin.

MIDSUMMER PRIX FIXE AT BJÖRK CAFE & BISTRO
2025-06-20 11:00 - 20:00 | Björk Cafe & Bistro at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Celebrate the longest day of the year with us Scandinavian-style! Björk Cafe & Bistro will be offering a special prix-fixe menu at the restaurant on June 20. It will also have boxes available for pre-order and pickup at this year’s Midsummer Festival on Friday, June 20 in Rockefeller Park.
MIDSUMMER PRIX FIXE
Friday, June 20; $65 pp
A special menu will include an appetizer with gravlax, herring, Jansson’s temptation, beet salad and more, entrees including Baked Arctic char, Matjes herring, and Havredals 50/50 Meatloaf, various dessert options and sparkling Nordic mimosas. Make a reservation.
MIDSUMMER FESTIVAL — ROCKEFELLER PARK
Friday, June 20
Björk Cafe & Bistro will be offering boxes for pre-order and pickup at this year’s Swedish Midsummer Festival in Rockefeller Park. Packages include a Midsummer Box for 4 ($125) a Herring Box for 2 ($30); a Meatball Platter ($15); and Peel & Eat Shrimp ($25). Order online by June 17 to pick up at Rockefeller Park on Friday, June 20 beginning at 4 PM. Order online.

HAPPY MIDSUMMER! A FAMILY ART WORKSHOP
2025-06-21 14:30 - 16:00 | NY
Attention, NYC families! Please join us for the family art workshop, Happy Midsummer, on June 21. Midsummer is an important and happy time in Scandinavia. To celebrate the occasion, NYC children and their families/caretakers are invited to an art workshop here at Scandinavia House. Families will make art; coloring and drawing, making a summer-themed collage, and making flower crowns from real flowers!
This workshop is intended for children from ages one to ten. Every participant—adults and children alike—must buy their own ticket to attend. Reservations are strongly encouraged.

MEMORIAL BY ALEJANDRO LEIVA WENGER | SATC READING
2025-06-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
See a staged reading from the Scandinavian American Theater Company (SATC) of playwright Alejandro Leiva Wenger’s Memorial!
When Sackarias passes away suddenly, Jon accepts an invitation to attend his memorial service, grateful to be considered one of his closest high-school friends. There is only one problem: Jon has no memory of Sackarias, or their friendship…
Jon, guilt-ridden and eager to please, attends the memorial. What follows is a high-stakes improvisation game, as Jon hopes every piece of information he finds out about Sackarias will provide comfort and meaning to his loved ones – and trigger his memory of an important friendship.
Equal parts thriller and comedy, Memorial explores loss, the malleability of memory, language and its loopholes, and the narratives we tell ourselves about those we love, while elegantly interweaving existential questions with a wry and sometimes absurd humor.
The play has been translated by May-Brit Akerholt.

WINE & OIL EXPERIENCE | BJÖRK CAFÉ NYC & SOMM IN THE GROVE
2025-07-01 18:30 - 21:00 | Björk Cafe & Bistro at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us for an unforgettable evening of Nordic elegance and flavor at Björk Café at Scandinavia House! In this exclusive collaboration between Somm In The Grove and Chef Ulrika (founder and chef of Björk), a five-course dinner will take you on a culinary journey through Scandinavia — where modern Nordic cuisine meets carefully selected wines and handcrafted olive oils from Spain and Italy. Each dish is rooted in Scandinavian tradition, and finished with hand-harvested and sustainably sourced olive oils, highlighting purity, depth, and seasonal ingredients. Guided by Certified Wine & Olive Oil Sommelier Sara Jimenez of Somm In The City, the evening will showcase the art of pairing wine with olive oil-forward dishes in a warm, intimate setting.
Seating is limited—reserve now to enjoy an inspired evening of flavor, culture, and craftsmanship!
$105 pp
Reservations

PASTEL CHALK ON PAPER
2025-07-05 12:00 - 15:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
This series offers a gentle introduction to the tactile qualities of materials such as paper, pastel, paint, graphite pencil, and ink. Participants will explore the unique characteristics of various tools and surfaces, learning simple techniques to get started and discover inspiration—whether drawn from the inner world or the world around us. The focus is on the process of making: approaching art as a meditative, exploratory practice. Together, we’ll experiment, play, and pay close attention to what unfolds on the page, moment by moment. There are no expectations for finished pieces or specific outcomes —the class itself is the experience and the goal. Each session will close with a supportive group reflection, where we’ll share and appreciate each other’s progress, process, and discoveries.
In this course, students will explore and experiment with using various pastel chalks on paper.
The series can be experienced as a complete progression or as individual, standalone classes. Participants are welcome to sign up for the full series or choose single sessions—there is no requirement to attend every class.

MY FRIENDS | NORDIC BOOK CLUB ONLINE
2025-07-08 18:00 - 19:00 | NY
Read and discuss literature with our Nordic Book Club Online! On July 8, we’ll be discussing My Friends by acclaimed Swedish author Fredrik Backman, a funny and deeply moving tale about a transformative bond between four teenagers, acclaimed as a “tribute to the forces that make an ordinary life extraordinary (BookPage).”
Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.
Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.
Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she’ll find… A testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.
My Friends is available in hardcover, eBook, and audio download from Simon & Schuster and other retailers.
Register

SOLD OUT — WATER-BASED PAINTING
2025-07-12 12:00 - 15:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
This event is now sold out.
This series offers a gentle introduction to the tactile qualities of materials such as paper, pastel, paint, graphite pencil, and ink. Participants will explore the unique characteristics of various tools and surfaces, learning simple techniques to get started and discover inspiration—whether drawn from the inner world or the world around us. The focus is on the process of making: approaching art as a meditative, exploratory practice. Together, we’ll experiment, play, and pay close attention to what unfolds on the page, moment by moment. There are no expectations for finished pieces or specific outcomes —the class itself is the experience and the goal. Each session will close with a supportive group reflection, where we’ll share and appreciate each other’s progress, process, and discoveries.
In this course, students will explore and experiment with water-based colored paint and water using brushes on paper.
The series can be experienced as a complete progression or as individual, standalone classes. Participants are welcome to sign up for the full series or choose single sessions—there is no requirement to attend every class.

AND WHEN THE LIGHT COMES IT WILL BE SO FANTASTIC | VIRTUAL BOOK TALK
2025-07-15 12:00 - 13:00 | NY
Join us for a virtual book talk with Norwegian poet Kristin Berget on when the light comes it will be so fantastic, with translator and poet Kathleen Maris Paltrineri. They’ll discuss the 2017 Brage Prize-nominated poetry collection, now out in translation from Northwestern University Press, with moderator Marisa Siegel (Fixed Stars, 2022).
and when the light comes it will be so fantastic weaves together themes of ecological and linguistic loss, memory and deep time, and motherhood and grief. Berget’s poetics point to landscapes used as sites of extraction, where exhausted phosphorus, starving clay layers, and forest machines are encountered. The poems in this collection traverse forests, deserts, and seas—their poetic matter separated by fields of caesuras, visual absences suggestive of Earth’s ongoing extinctions. As jurors of the Brage Prize commented, within these pages is a universe where humans can seldom be separated from one another or from the nature they live in and among. Berget’s first book translated into English is an innovative exploration of the climate crises we are living with today and the complex emotions that ebb and flow along with it.
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FOLKTALES | SCREENING & DIRECTOR TALK
2025-07-16 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On July 16, see the acclaimed new documentary Folktales followed by a film talk by Oscar®-nominated filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady! In this life-affirming masterpiece, teenagers converge at a traditional folk high school in Arctic Norway where they must rely on only themselves, one another, and a loyal pack of sled dogs as they all grow in unexpected directions. The film will be opening theatrically at IFC on July 25.
In Norse mythology, the three “Norns” are powerful deities who weave the threads of fate and shape humans’ futures. Today, Pasvik Folk High School in northern Norway aims to produce a similar life-changing effect on its students. Folktales tells the timely and heartwarming story of teenagers who choose to spend an unconventional “gap year” learning to dog sled and survive the Arctic wilderness, in hopes of finding connection and meaning in the modern world. Guided by patient teachers and a yard full of heroic Alaskan huskies, they discover their own potential and develop deep relationships with the land, animals and humans around them. Through intimate verité storytelling and exhilarating cinematography, Ewing and Grady examine humans on the cusp of adulthood, finding themselves at the edge of the world.

SOLD OUT — CARVE A COOK SPOON!
2025-07-19 11:00 - 14:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Learn how to carve a spoon from a fresh cut tree using traditional Nordic carving techniques. We cover tree anatomy, axing out a blank (roughed out spoon shape), knife holds for the hook & sloyd knife, drying, and finishing. This class is great for the beginner or the person wanting to learn “Sloyd style” carving. The class fee includes tool rental, materials, a finishing kit, and safety gloves. Please wear pants and close-toed-shoes, as we are going to make some wood chips.
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METAL & WOOD WORK | NORDIC ECHOES PANEL
2025-07-19 15:00 - 16:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Held alongside our exhibition Nordic Echoes — Tradition in Contemporary Art, the first major traveling exhibition of contemporary Nordic artist traditions from the Upper Midwest, join us for a panel discussion with three featured in the show: Talon Cavender-Wilson, Elizabeth Belz and Jess Hirsch. With exhibition curator Sally Yerkovich, they’ll discuss their works in the show and their respective metalworking and woodworking practices.

JOSTEIN GULBRANDSEN TRIO | NORDIC SUMMER JAZZ
2025-07-23 19:00 - 20:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
See a Nordic Summer Jazz performance on July 23 with Jostein Gulbrandsen Trio! The acclaimed Norwegian guitarist and composer Jostein Gulbrandsen will be accompanied by bassist Mike McGuirk and drummer Adam Nussbaum for this live show in Victor Borge Hall.

SOLD OUT — GRAPHITE PENCILS
2025-07-26 12:00 - 15:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
*This program is sold out.*
This series offers a gentle introduction to the tactile qualities of materials such as paper, pastel, paint, graphite pencil, and ink. Participants will explore the unique characteristics of various tools and surfaces, learning simple techniques to get started and discover inspiration—whether drawn from the inner world or the world around us. The focus is on the process of making: approaching art as a meditative, exploratory practice. Together, we’ll experiment, play, and pay close attention to what unfolds on the page, moment by moment. There are no expectations for finished pieces or specific outcomes —the class itself is the experience and the goal. Each session will close with a supportive group reflection, where we’ll share and appreciate each other’s progress, process, and discoveries.
In this course, students will explore and experiment with using graphite pencils on paper.
The series can be experienced as a complete progression or as individual, standalone classes. Participants are welcome to sign up for the full series or choose single sessions—there is no requirement to attend every class.

SOLD OUT — INK AND WATER
2025-08-02 12:00 - 15:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
*This program is sold out.*
This series offers a gentle introduction to the tactile qualities of materials such as paper, pastel, paint, graphite pencil, and ink. Participants will explore the unique characteristics of various tools and surfaces, learning simple techniques to get started and discover inspiration—whether drawn from the inner world or the world around us. The focus is on the process of making: approaching art as a meditative, exploratory practice. Together, we’ll experiment, play, and pay close attention to what unfolds on the page, moment by moment. There are no expectations for finished pieces or specific outcomes —the class itself is the experience and the goal. Each session will close with a supportive group reflection, where we’ll share and appreciate each other’s progress, process, and discoveries.
In this course, students will explore and experiment with using ink and water on paper across various techniques.
The series can be experienced as a complete progression or as individual, standalone classes. Participants are welcome to sign up for the full series or choose single sessions—there is no requirement to attend every class.

NORDIC SOCIALISM WITH PELLE DRAGSTED
2025-08-05 19:00 - 20:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On August 5, join us for a talk on Nordic Socialism with Pelle Dragsted! The leader of the Enhedslisten party in Denmark and representative in the Folketing will discuss his acclaimed book, now out in translation from Wisconsin Press, with the translator William Banks as well as Bhaskar Sunkara (President, The Nation; Founding Editor, Jacobin), and writer and professor Eric Blanc (Assistant Professor of Labor Studies, Rutgers University).
In recent years, the Nordic countries have been the envy of the world for their economic success, institutional stability, and consistently high levels of social happiness. But are they socialist? Several prominent members of the American right think so. They may find a surprising ally in Pelle Dragsted, a member of the Danish parliament and the leader of the socialist political party Enhedslisten (Red-Green Alliance); contrary to most Nordic leaders, Dragsted accepts the charge of socialism. Going even further, he here delivers a clarion call to lean into that description.
In Dragsted’s studied conclusion, Denmark and the rest of the Nordic countries are indeed already socialist, but only in part. The dangers faced by Norden come (and here many conservative American commentators will disagree) from the unhealthy encroachment of capitalism. His provocative starting argument is that capitalism and socialism are not in fact mutually exclusive, and already Nordic economies are hybrids, a mix of decommodified, democratically governed sectors and undemocratic, privately controlled enterprises. The relevant question is the degree to which one dominates the other. Currently, undemocratic forces are ascendant, but it need not be so. Here, Dragsted offers both his diagnosis and his proposed solution, a comprehensive plan for a gradual (re)democratization of the economy and a move to fully and firmly embrace, and redefine, the charge of “Nordic socialism.”
“A powerful and incisive analysis of modern capitalism, and an inspiring assessment of the forces aligned against it. Dragsted demonstrates that democratic socialism is the only way out of the mess we’re in—and shows how we can all start building it right now.”—Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom

NORDIC BOOK CLUB ONLINE | THE WHITE BEAR
2025-09-09 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 September 9, we’ll be discussing the classic Danish novellas The White Bear and The Rearguard by Danish Nobel laureate Henrik Pontoppidan, out now in new translation by Paul Larkin from NYRB Classics.
Love, faith, and the political mingle in these two short novels by the Nobel Prize-winning Danish author. The White Bear follows the fate of the odd, gangly, red-bearded Thorkild Müller. Born in rural Jutland and destined for the ministry, Thorkild proves to be a poor student and is assigned to a remote Inuit tribe in Greenland. There, with his mythic-looking staff and dogskin skullcap, he becomes known as the White Bear—a beloved legend among the locals and a freewheeling embarrassment to his fellow priests. Grown old, he returns to Denmark, where again his flock adores him while his fellow men of cloth try to tame the “whirling dervish in their midst.”

In The Rearguard, newlyweds Jørgen Hallager and Ursula Branth are as different as night and day. The brash son of a poor village teacher, Jørgen is an avowed socialist whose revolutionary beliefs translate into his work as a painter of social realism; Ursula comes from a conservative, upper-middle-class family. At first, as they start their married life in Rome, they each try to change the other’s worldview with arguments and threats, but as time wears on and they wear each other down, it becomes clear there can be no reconciliation in this tale of art and idealism, individuality and love.
The White Bear and The Rearguard is available as a single volume in paperbook and eBook from Penguin Random House and other retailers.
*Please note that, while titled only as The White Bear, the book contains both novellas.*
“The ice, the fjords, the harshness of lonely winter and the revitalizing light of summer . . . This is vivid writing, reminiscent of Knut Hamsun on landscape, and Halldór Laxness on the comedy of life.” —Danny Morrison, Irish Examiner
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QUISLING: THE FINAL DAYS
2025-09-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
“A superb historical drama” —on September 10, see Quisling: The Final Days in New Nordic Cinema! Directed by Erike Poppe (The King’s Choice; The Emigrants), this intense, electrifying film stars Gard B. Eidsvold as notorious Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling over the days leading to his sentencing and execution in 1945.
In this psychological drama of the former Prime Minister of Norway responsible for one of the greatest betrayals during World War II, Quisling: The Final Days (Quislings siste dager, Norway, 2024) opens as five years of occupation during WW2 have ended in Norway. Quisling, a Nazi collaborator who led the state administration under the German regime, is now in prison for treason. Can a priest help him find peace of mind? And can this traitor himself repent?
“A superb historical drama about the far-right’s threat to democracy… A penetrating psychological study of a delusional authoritarian.” (Variety)
“A must-see film” (Film Threat)
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BETWEEN TWO SOUNDS | WITH JOONAS SILDRE
2025-09-11 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us on September 11 for a book talk with Estonian comic artist and illustrator Joonas Sildre on his award-winning graphic novel Between Two Sounds, based on the life of world-famous Estonian composer Arvo Pärt! Presented in celebration of Pärt’s 90th birthday on this day, this program take place alongside celebrations of the composer this season at Carnegie Hall, including an October 23 performance with the Estonian Festival Orchestra.
Arvo Pärt stormed Soviet-occupied Estonia’s music scene in the 1960s as a brash young man pushing the limits of avant-garde modernism. Then he fell silent, no longer able to express what he felt through the musical language he had inherited. When he reemerged a decade later, he had found, in that silence between sounds, a new musical language inspired by ancient sacred music, the basis of his distinctive tintinnabuli technique.
Between Two Sounds: Arvo Pärt’s Journey to His Musical Language follows the composer’s life from his birth in Estonia in 1935 through 1980, when the Soviets forced him to emigrate because of the nonconformist and religious nature of his music. Based on years of research and close collaboration with Arvo Pärt himself, Joonas Sildre paints an atmospheric portrait of a restless artist who does not shy away from confronting state control or his own internal contradictions. Out in English translation by Adam Cullen, the book is the recipient of major awards including the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) 2025 — Gold Medal in the Graphic Novel category, and IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award 2025 — Gold Medal in the Graphic Novel category.

KEYBOARD CONVERSATIONS® | BELOVED NORDIC PIANO MASTERPIECES
2025-09-11 19:30 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Internationally acclaimed pianist Jeffrey Siegel returns this fall for his ever-popular Keyboard Conversations® series at Scandinavia House. Each evening comprises an informal commentary on the music and its composers, a full performance of each work, and a short Q & A session. The engaging format both makes friends of classical music and enriches the listening experience for avid music lovers.
In celebration of the 25th Anniversary Year of Scandinavia House, Mr. Siegel’s opening night features music from all-Nordic composers: Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen, and Christian Sinding, among others.
Thanks to a generous loan by Victor Borge’s grandson Finn, concerts will be performed on Victor Borge’s personal Steinway piano.
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NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER
2025-09-13 14:00 - 18:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Scandinavia House, in partnership with New York Textile Month, is pleased to present the second iteration of NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER, a weekend exhibition, program, and workshop highlighting contemporary Nordic textiles. Featuring an exhibition in the Scandinavia House gallery, the program includes artist talks and curator walkthrough, a reception, and hands-on workshops. The weekend program will also highlight work from recent textile art graduates from Textilhögskolan Borås.
Join us for the the first day of this event, which will feature two artist talks, a curator walkthrough of the exhibition, and a reception.
NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER is presented in partnership with New York Textile Month.
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HOT DOG! BJÖRK CAFE BRUNCH SPECIAL
2025-09-14 11:00 - 17:00 | Björk Cafe & Bistro at Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Hot Dog! In honor of Faroese artist Randi Simonsen’s “Crochet Hot Dog” workshop this Sunday in Nordic Textile Takeover, Björk Cafe & Bistro is offering a special brunch special with Swedish hot dogs — mini tunnbrödsrulle! Try out Chef Ulrika’s take on the Swedish street food dish (which Anthony Bourdain once called “the finest and best thing I ever had in my life”) paired with elderflower margaritas.
RESERVATIONS

THE HOT DOG WORKSHOP
2025-09-14 12:00 - 15:00 | NY
Join celebrated Faroese artist Randi Samsonsen on a crochet journey of the hot dog, a long-beloved NYC staple! There are endless possibilities to use left-over yarns. We are going to play with different gauges, structures, shapes and sizes. Let’s have fun!! To be able to crochet back and forth as minimum is required; if you only know how to knit, Randi will challenge you to knit the hot dog instead. Materials: Please bring left-over yarn, even tiny, small balls of yarn are welcome. It will be so great to see inactive yarns come to use! If you have crochet needles, preferably size 6 or 8, but anything goes. If you have knitting needles, bring them too. Once registered, we will send you instructions on how to crochet the “bun” ahead of time to have more flexibility with creating the wiener and toppings in the class!
This program will take place in this weekend’s NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER.
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ABOUT RANDI SAMSONSEN
Randi Samsonsen is an internationally renowned textile artist based in the Faroe Islands. She graduated from Designskolen Kolding 2012 with a masters in Textile Design. She was recently awarded the “Art Event of The Year” by the Danish Art Critics Association in 2024 for her collaborative textile work, THINGS MATTER, at Trapholt, Kolding.
In addition to exhibiting internationally, Randi also works as a teacher and developer of the textile department at Tilvirkisatstøði, Glasir, Tórshavn Collage in the Faroe Islands, teaching Design (tools/methods) and Textile Tools (knit/weave/materials etc.)
She constantly investigates the possibilities within textile, thread, form, and color within design and art.

THE EXTRAVAGANT BLOOM BROOCH WORKSHOP
2025-09-14 12:00 - 15:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Inspired by trend forecaster Li Edelkoort’s prediction that “Extravagant Brooches” are trending, we’ll make one ourselves! Join celebrated textile and performance artist Heidi Hankaniemi on a quest to repurpose vintage embroideries and sew a brooch on a backing of industrial felt with a brooch clasp. Materials are provided, but if you have any old embroideries that you think are fitting and you wish to repurpose, please bring those. No sewing skills required.
This program will take place in this weekend’s NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER.
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ABOUT HEIDI HANKANIEMI
Heidi Hankaniemi was born in Ekenäs Finland and currently lives in New York City. She received her BA (Hons) Degree in Critical Fine Art Practice from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, London, as well as a Diploma in Fine Arts from Kanneljärven Opiston taidelinja, Finland. Heidi has exhibited throughout Europe and the United States, including at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, St. Petersburg Metro Museum, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
Heidi’s work has been featured in Artnet, Vogue UK, FJORDS magazine, Elle Deco ES, Elle Decoration UK, Elle UK, Architectural Digest, Frame, I.D. magazine, Interview magazine, Crystallized, Dazed and Confused, Marie Claire, Hello!, among others. She was featured in Episode #1 of the documentary series Adress: New York, Kaleido Productions/ YleFEM, Finland. She has also been featured in Art TV, with Felicity, a documentary series thatlaunched in April 2023 on Airline Entertainment networks Worldwide.

THE CRAFT KNIT CLUB HEL IN NYC
2025-09-14 12:00 - 15:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Let’s come together! Based on the popular Craft Club Hel gatherings in Helsinki, Finnish textile artist and knitwear designer Juha Vehmaanperä brings their passion for collaborative design learning to New York. Join Juha for a workshop to learn the hand knitting special techniques of wave pattern and tuck stitch. You’ll need needles of your preferred size, and two or more yarns that fit the needle size. Feel free to try different varieties of needle and yarn sizes for experimentation!
BYOY = Bring Your Own Yarn (and knitting equipment)
This workshop is part of the weekend-long NORDIC TEXTILE TAKEOVER, presented in partnership with New York Textile Month.
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Craft Club HEL is a knitting gathering held in Helsinki in varied locations, for example Architecture and Design Museum, galleries and local artist and designer studios. The aim is to create conversational culture around craft where people from different backgrounds can come together through a shared interest. By choosing locations that exhibit design, art and local professionals Vehmaanperä’s aim is to weave these cultures together seeing craft as an integral and often overlooked part of art and design worlds.
Juha Vehmaanperä is a Helsinki based Textile Artist and Knitwear Designer (Master of Arts, Aalto-University) They have taught numerous courses in the field of art and design in relation to soft materials. In 2022 Vehmaanperä was awarded Young Designer of the Year in Finland. Their work has received international acclaim at Hyéres Fashion Festival and Dutch Design Week. Vehmaanerä’s work has been seen on artists such as CL and Tate McRae.

HILMA AF KLINT'S BOTANICAL WORLD
2025-09-16 18:30 - 19:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Join us on Tuesday, September 16 for an evening with Dr. Jodi Hauptman (the Richard Roth Senior Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art) and Dr. Lena Struwe (Director of the Chrysler Herbarium and Professor at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University) as they discuss artist Hilma af Klint’s profound engagement with nature.
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HOMECOMING (MÁHCCAN)
2025-09-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
On September 17, see the Homecoming (Máhccan), Suvi West and Anssi Kömi’s powerful documentary about the return of artifacts—long held in a museum—to their Sámi homeland.
Suvi West and Anssi Kömi’s latest documentary is a deeply personal pilgrimage to reclaim Sámi cultural heritage. The Sámi, Europe’s northernmost Indigenous people, endured the erosion of their sovereign and cultural rights during the 19th and 20th centuries under nation-state suppression. Graves were looted, artifacts and bones plundered and sacred drums removed from the hands of their last shamans. Set at a turning point in which museums must grapple with their colonialist history—including the National Museum of Finland, which has now returned thousands of everyday objects to the Sámi—the documentary tours museum vaults across Europe, where filmmaker West unravels layers of history, grappling with questions of representation, exploitation and the intricate tapestry of her own cultural identity.
As she takes the audience behind the scenes of the museum world, West reveals a visual, philosophical, and spiritual realm. She seeks a connection with ancestors through old museum objects, eventually arriving at the collective pain points of the Sámi people. How can the damage caused by outsiders be repaired so that collective pains can be left behind?
“This keenly observed film creates a profound statement about the legacy of colonialism as it vividly expresses the sustained soul-destroying impact on every person, particularly when they’re Indigenous” (Barbara Goslawski, POV Magazine)
This program is supported by the Monika and Charles Heimbold Fund for Exhibitions and Programs.
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WRITING THE WORLD FROM COPENHAGEN TO NYC
2025-09-19 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Join us on September 19 for a conversation on “Writing the World from Copenhagen to NYC”! This program presents the work of four talented early-career writers who have been selected by faculty at Forfatterskolen, Copenhagen, and the Columbia University School of the Arts, New York, to represent the best of new writing in Danish and English: Sophia Acuña, Christian Fobian, Patricio Hernández Palazuelos and Krista Winther.
In cooperation between these two arts institutions, the four Word for Word Exchange Writers have been engaged in a collaborative project of mutual translation. Moderated by Katrine Øgaard Jensen, they will present excerpts from the resulting work here in a multilingual reading and discussion about international 21st-century art-making with writers on the faculty of both institutions.
This program is sponsored in part by Danish Arts Foundation.
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SWEDISH 1.1 — ENROLLMENT OPEN
2025-09-22 18:00 - 19:30 | Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
Learn the Nordic languages in classes offered at Scandinavia House, held in-person and virtually! This course is for absolute beginners. Classes take place on Mondays from 6–7:30 PM beginning September 22 through December 8.
In this course students will learn vocabulary, the very basics of Swedish structure and pronunciation while also discussing some quirks of Swedish life. No prerequisites necessary. This class will take place as hybrid learning, with classes offered at Scandinavia House and online via Zoom.
At the end of the semester students will know:
• Sentence structure in statements and questions
• How to greet people
• Numbers and how to tell time
And be able to:
• Talk about themselves and what they do in their day
And be able to:
• Talk about themselves and what they do in their day
This hybrid class will be held both in-person and via Zoom; in-person attendance for the first four classes is highly recommended.
*Please note that there will be no class on October 13, Indigenous People’s Day.*
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