A season that transits us from the warmth of summer into the chilly depths of winter, the glorious autumn colours that magically spell the corresponding layers of emotions and purposeful activities are espoused by explorations of the materiality, methodologies and meanings of contemporary art…
A season with hoovering hues that epitomizes our quest to move from the reality of a Europe in crises of social and fiscal debts, a Europe bombarded by the rest of world’s quest to decolonize time…
And thus a season where inward reflection is warmly welcomed as the sanctuary of means to calm down despite the external visual noise of change being the only constant.
A season emboldened to reimagine a future reality with its own sense of acceptable logic.
The autumn group exhibition gathers 13 artists who work within textile, wood, clay and ceramics; paying homage to the increasing interest in crafts as a material and method within the contemporary art field.
Participate in artist Lee Mingwei‘s work The Mending Project by bringing a torn piece of garment for repair by a mender in the exhibition.
The Mending Project takes place within its specially produced furniture, a pile of clothes and around 400 spools of thread in a wide range of colours; all attached to a wall; constantly developing over the course of the exhibition as menders repair clothing brought in by the public.
“I truly believe the only thing that is constant is change itself. I try to be mindful of this when I create my work. I find beauty in things that change with time. As the originator of The Mending Project, I created a set of “rules of the game” in order to frame this project in term of time, space and concept. Once the project is activated, [it effects] a delicate balance among the menders, the visitors, the participants and the gallery hosts who are taking care of the project,” shared Lee Mingwei.
Exhibition: NEW MATERIALISM
Artists: Tonico Lemos Auad, Andrea Büttner, Andreas Eriksson, Theaster Gates, Petrit Halilaj, Katrine Helmersson, Sheila Hicks, Abdoulaye Konaté, Ellen Lesperance, Éva Mag, Britta Marakatt-Labba, Lee Mingwei & Francis Upritchard
Where: Bonniers Konsthall, Torsgatan 19
When: 5 September to 11 November
Running in parallel with the highly appreciated exhibition at the Royal Djurgården in Stockholm, where renowned sculptor Jaume Plensa exhibits 7 meter high cast iron portraits and the white silhouette placed in the water itself; Galleri Andersson/Sandström’s autumn exhibition of Plensa’s 7 sculptures showcases his oeuvre of slightly elongated, elliptical faces.
His silhouettes of young girls, all with their eyes closed, have a timeless and historical expression. At the same time they radiate a meditative calm; encouraging us to contemplate, reflect and look inward rather than instinctively respond to the visual noise that constantly meets us and which we usually choose to confront.
“Our body is the home of the spirit. The place in which ideas live. Our body is a meeting place where our different experiences converge, mix and grow, creating a colossal archive. The University is an extension of our body. A gathering space in which people and ideas, tradition and future, meet to converse, weaving the mesh of human knowledge. Taking the shape of a human body made out of essential vehicle of communication, the fundamental tools,” shared Jaume Plensa.
Exhibition & Artist: Jaume Plensa
Where: Galleri Andersson/Sandström, Hudiksvallsgatan 6
When: 23 August to 6 October
Joakim Ojanen‘s sculptures, paintings and drawings continue the evolution of his diverse array of endearing and surreal characters; creating sculptural and pictorial scenes where his cast of oddballs and misfits are released from isolation and increasingly begin to interact with one another.
With figures and creatures apparently in conversation, seemingly unaware of how they got there and unsure about where the path may lead next; the sense of melancholy and unease laced throughout Ojanen’s practice does not take over. Instead the tragicomic characters that inhabit his playful world demonstrate a determination and desire to press forward, to overcome.
None more so than in Boy with Bff Riding in the Wind, 2018 where a Breton striped wearing figure rides his dog-like steed triumphantly, boy and friend in perfect harmony, as if returning from some far-flung adventure in celebration.
Exhibition: Where do we go from here?
Artist: JOAKIM OJANEN
Where: Christian Larsen, Hudiksvallsgatan 8
When: 23 August to 6 October
“A DEBT OF TIMES” questions: ‘How to decolonize time?’ An ongoing research on temporal extractivism, it investigates how modernity has decreed a series of time debts.
By constructing historical time as a measure of cultural distance and by giving a supposed fundamental delay to the extra-western geographies they should strive to fill, they become relegated to the “waiting room of history”.
In Europe, debt crises, memorialism and commemorative obsession have also led to socially mortgage future times and we are exercising a real temporal expropriation over generations to come.
Exhibition: A Debt of Times
Artists: “a people is missing” duo Aliocha Imhoff & Kantuta Quirós, & Joshua Rios, Krista Franklin & Mawena Yehouessi
Where: Konsthall C, Cigarrvägen 14–16, 123 57 Farsta
When: 25 August to 28 October
The Monument presents a photographic project based on the area around Högdalstopparna, south of Stockholm, where Ulf Lundin has spent much time in recent years.
The photographs depict a specific place but are also loaded with an underlying narrative dealing with dreams and reality. Although beautiful, the pictures possess an intensity and darkness that relates to the society we live in.
“When I take photographs for a project, I usually stick to a clear concept. This time, things were different. I’ve returned to Högdalstopparna again and again, without really knowing why, except that the pictures I captured with my camera intrigued me. Like most people, I thought this was an old garbage heap that had grown wild and returned to nature. It wasn’t until I started reading about it that I realised what a magnificent plan it had once been,” shared Ulf Lundin.
Exhibition: The Monument
Artist: ULF LUNDIN
Where: GALLERI MAGNUS KARLSSON, Fredsgatan 12
When: 25 August to 29 September
Developed with young artists who participated in the 10 day summer course And Forever And, and as the culmination of three years of research working with young people in Index’ schools program The Residents and Index Teen Advisory Board, the exhibition radically redefines the role of pedagogy and education within an art institution.
“Starting with the idea of dialogue and curiosity, and an open-ended methodology, Index Learning Program has built an internationally recognized working method which utilises dialogic and socially engaged art practices for ‘thinking-with’,” shared Donna Haraway on contemporary art.
And Tomorrow And presents a demanding cacophony of voices questioning our collective futures. Ecological disaster, inter-species collaboration, cyborgian manifestations, from these new and altered states artists consider differing formulations of futures. It is an attempt to understand the role of artists in proposing distinctive and livable futures and to act as a counter point to the dominant ideals of the so-called Anthropocene.
Exhibition: AND TOMORROW AND
Artists: Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens, Trieke Haapoja and Laura Gustafson, Institute for New Feeling, Jenna Sutela, Jess Johnson and Simon Ward, Kati Roover, Sonia Leber and David Chesworth, Soda_Jerk, Alexandra Pirici and Raluca Voinea, The Otolith Group, & Fabrizio Terranova with Donna Harawa
Where: Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Kungsbro Strand 19
When: 25 August to 25 November
Peter Skölds’ paintings revolve around the essential questions of ‘what is a painting?’ By the withdrawal from representation, his artworks emphasises a painting as a construction of ideas and signs which creates a reality based on its own logic, rather than a representation of an external reality. Hence, his paintings put light on the notion of perception. At the same time, they are both unfamiliar and similar to what we have already seen.
Skölds paintings contain a seductive kind of verisimilitude, or truthlikeness. They are falsely presenting a reality which are true to its own logic. The seemingly real landscapes are choreographed sceneries with hidden messages. They make us question what we have seen, and how we shall understand our own perception.
Exhibition: Truthlikeness
Artist: Peter Sköld
Where: Domeij Gallery, Bragevägen 21
When: 18 August to 15 September
Linn Fernström has a distinctive way of painting that is unique and recognizable: her paintings are figurative and with detailed rendering of color. Her powerful large-scale works are calmer than her previous’, as the dramatic meets poetry and tranquility; rendering an imaginary world that is depicted with a tangible presence.
The ruins in the background of the paintings lend depth to the images and are reminiscent of stage sets or backdrops. They hint at a world in disrepair, the past, or a dream scenario. Spatiality dissolves, while the ruins frame the narrative. Colorful birds and dragonflies vibrate in the air, creating a sense of space in the paintings. Fernström uses a different perspective in which the main characters, occasionally just a torso or head, are on their way in or out of the image, and in which the horizon has shifted or disappeared.
Reflections of the artist herself recur in Fernström’s work, as well as insects and animals portrayed with the same gravity as the people. A woman lying on the ground in one painting also appears in another artwork. Is she asleep or is she dead? The landscapes and figures are transferred without explanation, like the logic of a dream. Composition, color and form carry the narrative that eventually conclude with the viewer.
Exhibition: The Air Behind Your Back
Artist: LINN FERNSTRÖM
Where: Galerie Forsblom, Karlavägen 9
When: 24 August to 23 September
Kristina Matousch’s Bake continues to investigate the complex relationship between the body, the space and the viewer; transforming the gallery to enhance the physical experience works consisting a performance where the installation is used as a baking tray.
In this process, Matousch uses chance and control in a manner characteristic of her artistic practice. As in previous projects, her work triggers contradictory and complex feelings; control and submission, clinical sharpness and tenderness, deadpan humour and seriousness. Our physical encounter with the work becomes an essential part of the overall experience. In this sense, Bake follows the inner logic of her earlier projects.
With a strong integrity, Matousch manages to intertwine slick surfaces, sharp edges and perfectly cut-out openings with aspects which may be perceived as bodily and messy. Her process is intense and physical, leaving traces of the actual performance in the making.
Exhibition: Bake
Artist: Kristina Matousch
Where: Cecilia Hillström Gallery, Hälsingegatan 43
When: 24 August to 6 October
Amy Feldman advances a distinct painting language, mining the potential of gray and its doubled significance as both a neutral and non-neutral force. Within her abstract sign system, a clear allusion to the body and to Feldman’s position as a female painter persists.
Feldman chose to construct the works on view using acrylic, spray paint and silkscreen ink; scanning canvas fabric, enlarging the weave in Photoshop and reproducing it back onto a gray primed canvas, before applying gestural marks to the surface. By reassigning the canvas material as image, Feldman highlights the paradoxical relationship between the physical and formal, psychic and conceptual.
Exhibition: Counter Ground
Artist: AMY FELDMAN
Where: ANNAELLEGALLERY, Karlavägen 15 B
When: 24 August to 23 September
Photo and information credits: The respective galleries
