American Swedish Institute offers many advantages to members including free admission, discounts to events and reciprocal access to museums across the country. Members can join at various levels designed to fit your needs.
extra/ordinary: The American Swedish Institute. At Play is an imaginative new exhibition produced by the American Swedish Institute that explores 29 objects from ASI’s collection and the stories behind them. While it is temporarily closed to the public, we invite you to view a virtual tour of the exhibition in the above slideshow.
Visitors are invited to not only discover the wonder of the featured objects and newly opened rooms in the Turnblad Mansion, but also encounter such surprises as a kitchen ceiling lined with colored wooden spoons, a room where you can color on the walls and a ballroom full of balls.
extra/ordinary was inspired by the picture book A to Zäåö: Playing with History at the American Swedish Institute (University of Minnesota Press, 2019) which features original watercolor paintings and ink illustrations by the Minnesota mother-son team of Tara Sweeney and Nate Christopherson.
Check out this A to Zåäö: Pronunciation Guide Video - which offers a romp through the Swedish alphabet and words from the book along with highlights from the exhibition's First Look party. Filmed and directed by Francis Sampah and produced by ASI and the University of Minnesota Press.
Tune in to ASI's Facebook and Instagram every weekend as we share a story from the exhibition, and be sure to check out other stories inspired by the exhibition in Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary Stories.
extra/ordinary is produced by the American Swedish Institute. Lead support provided by IKEA. Major support provided by the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, Karin Larson, Leslie Nelson, Lisa Paulson, Mike and Barb Nelson, Joanne Reisberg, Chris and Chick Lane, Laurie Jacobi and Cotty Lowry, Willow Hagens, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, and ASI’s members and donors. ASI’s hotel partner is the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel, The Depot. The exhibition’s media partner is the Star Tribune.
