See a clip from the opening

Fotografiska from Mediastation on Vimeo.

A new, state-of-the-art, high-tech, audio-visual system has now been permanently installed in Fotografiska’s main event hall. Consisting of eight projectors, it allows the user to create synchronized and interactive film and slide shows from floor to ceiling on three of the room’s four walls.

The projectors and the accompanying software now make it possible to project pretty much whatever you like. Create fascinating presentations in full resolution, show live pictures, add dynamically streamed media or build up 3D environments which you can interact with and control using a handheld device like an iPad.

“Watchout allows you to create experiences that really are out of the ordinary. The system makes the room incredibly flexible. Using creative scenography and this ultra-modern display technology, the only limits to what you can do are your own creativity and imagination,” says Fredrik Svahnberg from the system supplier, Dataton.

The system is now a permanent and greatly appreciated feature at Fotografiska.

The opening of the Anton Corbijn exhibition earlier in January provided the perfect opportunity for us to reveal the marvels that it can perform

More about Dataton

Dataton was founded in 1973 and develops presentation technology software and hardware. Its products are sold all over the world. Dataton Watchout is a presentation system that is primarily used for large-format, multi-display productions. The software is often used at events and trade fairs or to create scenography at theatres and museums. It is also extensively used for digital signage in shops and public places. To date, its most talked-about and large-scale use was at the World Expo exhibition in Shanghai on 2010.

Click here for more information.

30 000 hand-rolled meatballs and over 7 000 guests later, we can safety say that Fotografiska’s first Christmas dinner has been a resounding success. The memory of chef Paul Svensson’s specially composed Christmas feast, the music and the whole setting at Fotografiska make many of us wish it were Christmas all year round.

Here are some of the reactions from guests who came to Fotografiska's Christmas feast for all the senses:

“We just wanted to say thank you for such a magnificent Christmas spread! It really was outstanding! We have told all our friends and contacts and hope that many of them will also decide to try it.”
/Swedish Red Cross

“Thanks for arranging a truly wonderful event for us when we had our Christmas party on 1 December! I've received many positive comments from those who were there. We had such fun! Beautiful surroundings, great food. Just an all-round fabulous time.”
/Inga-Maj Andersson, Stockholm Söder Hospital

“I just want to thank you for a truly magical evening. It was completely brilliant. The guided tour, the mulled wine, the fire show, the choir, food, the Lucia procession, the pianist, the service – all fantastic! We've been to many Christmas dos throughout the years, but everyone agrees that this was the best one yet.”
/Fatima Bentefour, Krook & Tjäder Architects 

“Thanks for a great event yesterday. Really well organized with wonderful singing and music, great food and a nice guided tour. Not to mention the fabulous view! Thanks once again for a really nice evening.”
/Eva-Lotta Sanderup, Addedo  

“Yesterday we ate a totally different Christmas dinner.... But what an evening; good food, pleasant service, no queues and nice music. And at just the right volume so that you could talk if you wanted to. So many people have thanked me personally, you'd think I'd arranged it all myself. Thank you.”
/The Swedish Tax Agency

Inviting your business partners to a breakfast meeting can grab their attention at the very start of their working day. Anna Hermes has been running her company Hermes Events for a few years now - and offering a wide range of services. Last year she arranged a couple of breakfast meetings at Fotografiska. We asked her about how to run a successful breakfast meeting.

You’ve arranged breakfast meetings at Fotografiska. Tell us a little bit more.
We organised one breakfast seminar to which our client invited its most important customers, This gave them the chance to first mix with them socially and then provide some information about what was happening at the company, thus creating opportunities to improve sales.

What’s good about breakfast meetings?
Well, first of all, they don’t cost all that much to do. Inviting people for breakfast and renting premises for a few hours is a very cost-effective way of meeting customers. Secondly, people are much more likely to come as they’re probably on their way to work anyway. And inviting them for a good breakfast is always appreciated, of course. Carefully arrange some tables and chairs and the atmosphere will be free and easy, which helps to build up stimulating relationships. 

What do you need to think about prior to having a breakfast meeting?
The event has to have a clear purpose and message to convey. All your communication needs to reflect that, whether it’s the layout of your invitation or the colour of the napkins. This also applies to your choice of premises. They should be tailored to your chosen theme. 

What’s important to bear in mind when looking for somewhere to hold the breakfast event?
Again, it should reflect the purpose of the event itself, the target group you’re aiming at and the feeling you want to convey. That’s why the choice of premises is so very important. It can make all the difference when your customers are deciding whether to come or not. The location of the premises is always paramount. 

You’ve continued to have breakfast meetings at Fotografiska. Why?
Fotografiska has a lot to offer. Stylish, well-adapted premises, good food, a fabulous view, and then there are the exhibitions, which I personally think add a lot and make the meetings much more interesting. I prefer to bring my groups here because I know most of them will be very positively surprised.

You’ve also arranged after-work events at Fotografiska, haven’t you?
Yes. As well as managing Hermes Events, I also run an after-work network, Hermes & Kboom, together with a good friend of mine. We’re always on the look out for interesting people to come along and mix in a relaxed atmosphere. When I invite people to an event, I want them to experience something out of the ordinary. That’s why I choose places that offer that little bit extra. In this case, we were looking for somewhere close to the water which could offer a cosy atmosphere to relax in after work. Fotografiska was the obvious choice.

The first Sunday of Advent saw the much longed-for première for Fotografiska's Christmas Feast. The first guests certainly looked very satisfied at the end of the evening.

Mia Borenstedt, from RentEvent was one of the very first guests to enjoy the Christmas Feast and came along with three other enthusiastic foodies from work:
- We share an avid interest in all things culinary and this really did live up to our expectations. The food was fantastic. It was refreshing, innovative and deliciously flavoured.
Despite tough competition from the lightly marinated char and jellied veal with organic duck's liver and Christmas raisins, she reserved special praise for the spit-roasted piglet from Domta Farm.
- Prepared and carved at the table, it really was quite exceptional, Mia was keen to tell us.
The Christmas Feast served as a three-course meal is the creation of our very own culinary expert and TV-chef Paul Svensson and will continue to be served until 21 December. So why not book a lunch or dinner sitting for yourself and your customers or your colleagues?

Read more here

Roberth Malmgren has organized exhibitions and events in thirty-five different countries and has arranged large-scale events at some of Europe’s largest art institutions and museums. And yet, despite his long track record, he’s chosen to sing the praises of a relatively new arrival on the Swedish events scene.

A master at showing guests a good time, Roberth is an event coordinator and project manager with over thirty years’ experience in the industry. In April this year, he arranged a two-day conference in Stockholm for the Institute for Surface Chemistry (YKI) for the seventh year running. The conference banquet was held at Fotografiska. Before the dinner, the visitors were treated to a guided tour of the museum’s current exhibitions. “This is an international event with guests from all over the world and we want to show them the best Stockholm has to offer. Fotografiska has fantastic facilities and first-class cuisine,” he says.

Successful events are those that manage to give the guests that little extra. During a rheumatologists’ congress a few years ago, Roberth, on behalf of Pharmacia, arranged a three-kilometre fun-run, starting and finishing in the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona. It was a resounding success - the doctors ran and the Pharmacia exhibition was the most-visited stand at the entire congress. But memorable experiences don’t always have to involve an Olympic Stadium. Göran Segerholm, photographer, author and programme director at the Fotografiska Academy was a guest speaker at the YKI dinner at Fotografiska. “He gave a short and very well appreciated talk about surfaces, reflections and light. It was new, exciting knowledge but with a clear connection to the guests’ area of activity,” Roberth adds.

In addition to the setting, the exhibitions and the premises, Fotografiska has another dimension to it, according to Roberth: “The museum compares well internationally. I’ve arranged events at the Munch Museum in Oslo, the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, the Miró Foundation in Barcelona, Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Most of the exhibitions at these museums are permanent. At Fotografiska, new things are happening all the time and its focus on the image in the contemporary age is very cutting edge.”

What makes a good events venue?
 “The most important thing is to find a venue that appeals to the target-group. It must be functional and suit your programme. Ideally, you want an attractive setting in beautiful surroundings.”

What can we as amateurs learn from professional event organizers?
 “Take your role as host seriously. Dare to be a host, go the whole hog and loosen up, many people forget to do this.”

Text: Johan Abrahamsson/Birdh

Roberth Malmgren’s best event tips:

-  Start making preparations in good time, people often start too late.
-  Make sure you plan a proper budget that covers everything and
   doesn’t underestimate the costs.
-  Dare to ask the target group what they are interested in, they are
   after all the people who expect to be entertained.
-  Hire professionals. It’s not too expensive to bring in a professional
   sound and lighting firm compared to what it costs in terms of a broken
   reputation after a speech that no-one can hear.

Party for service professionals  - fish market, spring vegetables and world-class photographic art on SHR day on 2 May at Fotografiska.

After listening to a number of lectures and attending the association’s AGM in Stockholm Waterfront’s newly opened conference facilities, 300 guests from the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Association (SHR) arrived at Fotografiska. The conclusion of the annual SHR members’ day was to be given a different setting. “We wanted to have a vibrant, memorable dinner, in which the guests would not only be served exquisite food but would also have the chance to see the exhibitions and the premises,” said Paul Svensson, culinary expert and concept developer at Fotografiska.

After gathering in the event lobby, the guests then streamed in to view the Albert Watson and Edward Burtynsky exhibitions. Burtynsky’s thematic overview of man’s relationship to and dependence on oil seemed in particular to spark discussions and create a buzz of excitement. The welcoming drink was served on the second floor with Stockholm’s inlet as a glittering back-drop through the magnificent panoramic windows. In the adjoining reception room the guests entered a mock fish market, with four different starters on a fish and shellfish theme. “The menu illustrates exactly how we think about food here at Fotografiska - high-quality, locally sourced raw ingredients, simple flavours given a refined, elegant expression. We then try to reinforce the flavours by adding a visual impression, here in the form of a fish market,” Paul Svensson continued. The sit-down meal was then served in our large banqueting and event hall on the ground floor. The main course: an array of spring vegetables with roast pork and lamb. “We wanted to highlight the season, which is why we put the emphasis on early spring vegetables such as green and white asparagus, spring onions, radishes and carrots.”

Paul Svensson, who has competed in the Culinary World Cup and has worked as a chef-de-cuisine at some of Stockholm’s most exclusive restaurants, including Bon Lloc and F12, sees it as an exciting challenge to work with this kind of event. “It’s very stimulating when you can be creative and devise memorable experiences, Not just serve a standard meal. I believe most chefs like to think outside the box, let their creativity take over and create the ultimate food experience.”

The guests, all SHR members, are all service professionals themselves. How does this affect such an event? “Not at all, a guest is a guest. You have to be eager to deliver a good product on every occasion,” Paul Svensson says. “It felt really good, there was a great atmosphere in the hall, exactly what we wanted to create. There was lots of movement and gatherings around the tables - a great success on our part.”

SHR Dagen from Fotografiska Museet on Vimeo.

Fotografiska Event & Conference has hired two bakers of the highest international class, who are in the process of moving their bakery into Fotografiska’s premises on Stadsgårdskajen.

The bread and confectionery on sale in the café and restaurant and served at our events has been supplied by Dessert och Choklad Stockholm since the autumn of last year. The company is run by two internationally acclaimed bakers: Conrad Tyrsén recently won a silver medal with the Swedish national team at the Culinary World Cup and was named Confectioner of the Year 2009. Ted Johansson has won both Olympic and World Cup gold.  This summer, the collaboration will become even closer when they open a fully equipped bakery at Fotografiska. “We’re just putting the finishing touches to the bakery and we will start to heat up the ovens in the middle of June,” Conrad informs us. Cooperation began following an enquiry from chef Paul Svensson, who works as a culinary expert and concept developer at Fotografiska. He was given the task of finding a bakery he could trust and that could live up to Fotografiska’s demands for high quality. “We were eventually asked whether we would like to have a bakery on-site and we can’t think of a better place to have one,” Conrad adds. The two rivals have stopped competing at least for the time being. They are far too busy running their company. The main focus of the new bakery is to ensure that Fotografiska is self-sufficient in bread and confectionery.

They describe their products as being in a classical style but with a modern expression. Beautiful confectionery made from carefully chosen raw ingredients and elegantly presented. “But presentation shouldn’t be too extreme, the cakes have to taste delicious,” says Conrad. They get their inspiration from different parts of the world, but classical French confectionery still has a special place in their hearts, as does typically Swedish baking like cinnamon buns. The current trend is towards smaller confectionery, something which our two master bakers have taken on board. “We don’t believe in the American model of huge cinnamon buns big enough for four people. Every item must be baked with love and tenderness. In the café, we put no more than six buns on each plate, so each one has to look good.” We’re convinced that most people today are very aware of what they eat. For us there is no alternative, it has to be real butter and real milk in our buns, not margarine or ready-mix products.”

Conrad tells us he is looking forward to being involved in Fotografiska’s Event & Conference activities. “We’re full of expectation, both about getting the bakery off the ground and putting our new ovens to use and about how we can contribute to the success of the various events Fotografiska organises."

We exhibited at this year’s TUR Trade Fair for the travel, tourism and meetings industry on 24-25 March at the Swedish Exhibition Centre in Gothenburg. The fair was being held for the 28th time and was attended by 44 500 visitors and 79 countries were represented. This provided people with an excellent opportunity to visit our stand to find out more about us, our premises and services and about Fotografiska as a meeting-place. We very much hope to exhibit at next year’s fair, TUR 2012, as well.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Fairtrade Sweden took over Fotografiska for a full-day conference on 17 March this year. Entrepreneurs, ambassadors, politicians and officials gathered under the same roof to meet and participate in everything from creative workshops and seminars to inspiring presentations in the museum’s light-filled premises. The speakers included Tuulia Syvänen (Director of Operations at Fairtrade International) , Åsa Domeij (Director of Corporate Environmental and Social Responsibility at Axfood) and Per Rosengren (Director of Environmental Affairs and Quality at KF).The day started with an address from the Moderator Doreen Månsson (actor, reporter, panellist, lecturer and TV/radio host) and was rounded off with an organic dinner served with Fairtrade wine. The guest of honour was Swedish Consumer Affairs Minister Birgitta Ohlsson, who presented the Best Fairtrade City award.

The whole day was a great success.

Meetings International did wrote an article on us. Read more here