Our Favourite Gallery Is Celebrating Five Years This Month

Jacob Berliner and Jeanette Steinsland.

Gallery Steinsland Berliner is celebrating five years this month. That's a pretty big deal for the city of Stockholm considering that GSB's taste for art and photography is absolutely awesome (the Swedish Ministry of Arts should stop by and say thanks).

The people behind GSB and its success are Jeanette Steinsland and Jacob Berliner. You could probably say that they're part of an extended VICE-family, since many of their artists have been featured in our magazine, too. Their five-year-jubilee-show is opening on Friday, so we called up Jeanette to see what's up and to say happy birthday.

VICE: So how does it feel to be celebrating five years? Have your expectations been exceeded since you first opened?
Jeanette Steinsland: Oh, there are plenty of mixed feelings. Partly because initially, I had these goals in my head to give this project five years, then evaluate how it felt like, and consider whether or not I should continue. In a way they've been like goals for me personally, too. This all means that I'm standing here now and I'm looking back at how much work I've put into it and how much I've gained from it. Did we reach the goals we set up? We're evaluating and looking back.

So did you reach the goals that you set up initially?
Yes! And it feels incredible! One of our goals was to take part of Market Art Fair before turning five years old, and we managed to do that. We've also increased our turnover loads, which we had to do considering that we didn't have a budget at all from the beginning. We've also opened doors for the artists we've been working with. So they've had the opportunity to continue with other art exhibitions and museum exhibitions in return.

Work for GSB's five-year-show by Johan Bergström.

Is there something particular that has gone so well that you've been like, "oh my god"?
I think it's the response that we've gained, both from people visiting our shows and people who have given us huge amounts of nice feedback. I've been completely unprepared of that considering that neither me nor Jacob know that many people in Stockholm – I'm Norwegian and he's Danish. And then that there are plenty of people who have taken part of the gallery, both as visitors, artists and collectors. I'm incredibly overwhelmed by that.

Are there any artists that you're particularly proud of?
Well, I think that in a way I'm proud of all artists in different ways because they are so different. It's very personal to work with artists. It's like a relationship where you have certain things that are challenging or things that you put out as mutual goals. So it's very different. Spontaneously, now when you ask, I think about Ragnar. I think that's on a very personal level where you build up a relationship and trust, and you reach goals together. I think that's very nice and special.

Do you remember your first meeting with Ragnar?
I knew Ragnar before we opened the gallery, and we had worked together before. The first time I exhibited his work was at Allmänna Galleriet, maybe in 2005. So that's a very long time ago.

Is there any way you can summarise how your relationship has developed, or is there any particular work by Ragnar that's been like, "Damn, this is it!" – like a magic point in your relationship?
Ragnar is magic in himself because he is so incredibly dedicated to what he does as well as he's very productive. I admire him because he's so rich in his work. He can draw things over and over again. It's something very poetic and admirable about becoming one with an expression that you're doing yourself. That requires dedication and courage.

Work for GSB's five-year-show by Dmytrij Wulffius.

So what will happen on Friday?
When we were like, "fuck, we're turning five, what should we do?", we thought that we really want to thank everybody who have made sure that we have a gallery at all. So we're inviting all artists who we've had the honour to work with and exhibit, as well as everyone who has put their trust in us. We're inviting everyone! However, we knew that several of the artists are unable to attend. I mean there are several hundred who we've been working with during these five years.

So we chose a format, A4 out of simplicity and as a base. We've received a crazy amount of works. I'm in the middle of looking them all through at this very moment. But yeah, the works that we've got hold of now are the ones we want to exhibit.

So what's the next step? Will you try to expand, or keep going as it is for another five years?
We are so incredibly psyched now! We've got a huge amount of energy form all the feedback from collectors, artists and people who are interested in what we do and our artists. That has made us very psyched and excited. So it feels like we want to do even more. So what we've done now is that we've made a program for the spring that is super strong, which will really get to people. I think that will show everyone that we're serious about what we do.

Awesome! Thanks, Jeanette and happy birthday!

GSB's five-year-show opens tomorrow, Friday at 6PM, and runs till November the 29th at Gallery Steinsland Berliner (duh), Bondegatan 70, 116 33 Stockholm, Sweden. You should come!

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