The anonymous artist collective "Brown Island" was started at Konstfack 2016. The name refers to the school's exhibition room, the White Sea, which according to Brown Island's interpretation symbolizes the white homogeneity of Scandinavian art academies which the group believes is a democratic problem.
In a series of exhibitions, academic essays and actions at the school, Brown Island has wanted to question what is seen as a whiteness norm at Konstfack.
As part of their work, they have put forward a proposal to change the name of the White Sea, which in turn has triggered a debate on mainly Dagens Nyheter's cultural pages.
Name change not excluded
Art professor and design critic Sara Kristoffersson has opposed the proposal to change the name with references to the fact that the origins of the White Sea have nothing to do with racism - the name came about in the 1950s when studio walls were demolished into a large hall called the White Sea as a "Republican wink to the largest room in the Royal Palace ”of the same name.
She further writes that we live in a society "where 'offended' has become a mantra and the anxiety of offending paves the way for unreasonable concessions".
Kristoffersson has received criticism both from Brown Island and a total of 44 professors, senior lecturers, assistant professors and doctoral students at Konstfack who believe that she is engaged in "an exercise of power that damages trust between students and teachers".
Konstfack's principal Maria Lantz has recently stated in a press release on Konstfack's website, where she writes that the school in recent years has done much to "increase understanding of deep-seated and often invisible racism", and that a name change on the White Sea is not ruled out .
Oslo and Copenhagen
From a Nordic perspective, the debate on the White Sea is not unique.
At the art academies in both Copenhagen and Oslo, discussions about racism and identity politics have flared up in the wake of the Black lives matter movement, where two principals were allowed to resign in the autumn of 2020.
At the Oslo Academy of the Arts, the then principal Måns Wrange supported a call from 130 students who said they wanted to deal with structural racism at the school.
The call was criticized by others at the school for threatening academic freedom, and Måns Wrange resigned shortly afterwards.
At the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, it was principal Kirsten Langkilde who had to leave her job, after a discussion about diversity and racism at the school led to an anti-racist action where students threw a bust representing the school's founder, King Fredrik the Fifth, in the channel.