Why go
Look at Malmö Opera, the theatre tradition linked to Ingmar Bergman, and the contemporary art setting of Moderna Museet Malmö as different ways into the city's cultural life. A performance or exhibition needs its own planning; the buildings and their history also reward attention from outside.
The full story
Malmö Stadsteater opened in 1944 as a home for several kinds of performance, including drama, opera and dance. Ingmar Bergman worked at the theatre in the 1950s, and performers associated with that period later became familiar faces in his films. The institution was divided into separate theatre, music theatre and dance organisations in the 1990s, a useful reminder that Malmö's stage life does not sit in one venue today. Malmö Opera carries the opera and musical theatre strand; Skånes Dansteater represents contemporary dance. Their current programmes are best checked directly before building an evening around them. The city's cultural trail also reaches beyond the stage. Bo Widerberg's 1963 film Kvarteret Korpen drew on a Malmö working-class district, while the former power-station building once used by Rooseum later became home to Moderna Museet Malmö. Near another part of the centre, Malmö Konsthall has been an exhibition hall for contemporary art since 1975. These places offer a choice between a timed performance, an exhibition and a walk that reads the city through its cultural buildings.