About Accelerator
Accelerator is an exhibition space where art, science and societal issues meet. It is part of Stockholm University. The mission of Accelerator is to engage actively with society, producing exhibitions presenting international and Swedish contemporary art.
Accelerator organises a public programme of presentations and talks with artists, researchers, students and the general public. Accelerator’s programme is driven by an ambition to contribute towards a transparent and empathetic society by opening up opportunities for art to spark discussions and interdisciplinary dialogue.
Staff and organisational structure
Artistic Director: Richard Julin
Administrative Director: Mårten Snickare
Curator: Therese Kellner
Communications Manager: Erica Lindberg
Financial Manager: Koshik Zaman
Exhibition Technician: Karl-Erik Berglund
Visitor Services Coordinators: Johanna Mork and Karl-Oskar Gustafsson
To contact a member of staff, write the email address according to this: firstname.lastname@su.se (replace å, ä and ö with a, a and o).
For general inquiries about visits and exhibitions, contact accelerator@su.se.
Board
Chair:
Jonas Häckner, Professor of Economics
Members:
Jonas Olson, Professor of Practical Philosophy
Teresa Simon-Almedal, Professor of Financial Law
Martin Jakobsson, Professor of Marine Geology and Geophysics
David Neuman, Museum director emeritus, PhD h.c.
Robert Weil, Chairman and Founder, Proventus AB
Accelerator is a separate establishment at Stockholm University within the Faculty of Humanities. Accelerator is ultimately under the supervision of the President of Stockholm University.
Collaborations
Collaborative partnerships constitute an important influx of ideas for Accelerator’s programme and activities. In establishing long-term collaborations we aim to provide a mutual exchange between the partners.
Accelerator’s exhibition programme is supported by Magasin III Museum for Contemporary Art and The Robert Weil Family Foundation.
We actively engage in developing new and existing partnerships to enable more encounters between art and research. For more information please contact Mårten Snickare, Administrative Director: marten.snickare [at] arthistory.su.se.
KLISTER
Accelerator is a member of the KLISTER network. The nationwide network consists of small and medium-sized contemporary art institutions in Sweden and has been working together since 2011. Among other things, in 2014 they released the report ”Inga undantag – värdeskapandet i små och medelstora samtidskonsthallar” (No exceptions – value creation in small and medium-sized contemporary art centres) by author Mikael Löfgren on the key role that Sweden’s contemporary art centres play in society.
KLISTER’s members are: Accelerator, Alingsås kulturhus/konsthall, BAC, Bildmuseet, Borås konsthall, Botkyrka konsthall, Grafikens hus, Göteborgs konsthall, Gävle Konstcentrum, Index, Kalmar konstmuseum, Konsthall C, Konsthallen Bohusläns museum, Konsthallen i Haninge kulturhus, Konsthallen Kulturcentrum Sandviken, Luleå konsthall, Lunds konsthall, Marabouparken konsthall, Museum Anna Nordlander, Röda Sten konsthall, Signal, Skövde kulturhus, Tensta konsthall, Varberg konsthall and Örebro konsthall.
Accelerator Founding Patrons
The history of Accelerator
The idea to build an exhibition space at Stockholm University emerged from a long-standing and successful collaboration between the University and Magasin III Museum for Contemporary Art on the MA programme in Curating Art. Accelerator was initiated by Margaretha Thomson, professor emeritus of art history, and David Neuman, former museum director and current chair of Magasin III. In 2015, the vice-chancellor of Stockholm University, Astrid Söderbergh Widding, officially founded Accelerator and the activities were launched. Richard Julin was appointed artistic director in 2016 and began developing the artistic programme, which was initially exhibited at various sites on the Frescati campus. Completed in autumn 2019, the new exhibition space was inaugurated in September the same year.
The site of the exhibition space was previously an underground laboratory for research in accelerator physics. Designed by architect Gustaf Holmdahl (1879-1958), the original building was erected in 1936. Named after Nobel laureate Manne Siegbahn, professor of experimental physics at Stockholm University, the laboratory housed a cyclotron. Commissioned by Akademiska Hus and redesigned by 2BK Architects, the premises were renovated and extended in 2016-2019, a new building housing Accelerator’s entrance and restaurant was added.
More about the Accelerator
Watch the documentary about Accelerator – a film about the birth of the project, the ideas and the people behind it.
Recorded during 2016-2019. Produced by Lisa Munthe & Caroline Falkman at Stockholm University.
Images from the refurbishment
Vacancies
Vacancies within Stockholm University are advertised here.