Things to light

Few exciting captures from a recent exhibit at Kulturhuset, “Sakernas tillstånd” (“The state of the things”). Swedish handicraft at its best !!

Death Balloon

Went to see art work urging the public to “think about death” during the annual Culture Festival in Stockholm, and fell for this piece by Adel Abidin, an Iraqi-Finnish artist.

The video shows a young boy in barber shop training, gently shaving white foam off of a balloon ready to burst at any moment… and suddenly bursting. I yelled out loud . And left feeling relieved.

Highlights from Tensta Konsthall

Highlight 1: a huge video with people about to sneeze about to sneeze and then finally sneezing…(did not capture the sneezing part on film ). Painful, funny and makes you feel like you´ve been waiting to sneeze and finally sneezed then waiting to sneeze again your whole life, place of unrest. By Ulf Lundin and part of the exhibit “Cut my legs off and call me shorty” at Tensta Konsthall, a museum for contemporary art.

Highlight 2: the restroom!! See THIS is what a rest room is supposed to look like in an art museum .

Moderna x4

House without windows and doors and stairs, is this what we do to ourselves? By Clay Ketter, American artist living in Sweden.

Moderna x3

…and American girl.

Moderna x2

American boys…

Moderna x1

As seen on a wall at Moderna Museet (the major museum in Stockholm for contemporary art): “Beware of taking the spectator’s unfruitful stand, because life is not a spectacle, a sea of misery is not a viewbox (not sure about the translation here ), a screaming human being is not a circus bear!” True true…

IKEA goes art museum

I went to see an exhibit about IKEA at Liljevalchs (a major art gallery in Stockholm) the other day. The interesting thing about IKEA is that IKEA manages to bundle up all the things that are great about Sweden in one blue and yellow box that spreads cultural values in much more powerful ways than any cultural institute or politician or royal family could ever do…

So what is Sweden then according to IKEA blue and yellow box? Sweden is financial responsibility, democratic values, children´s rights, gay rights, “beauty to the people”, Sweden is common sense and childlike spirit, being mindful about natural resources… List goes on and I think it´s pretty amazing that these things can be expressed through something as simple as a couch with a changeable cover (embedded idea that children have the right to be free and messy and the home should be set up accordingly).

IKEA logos from back in the day

IKEA campaign around the time of Obama´s election. Under the slogan “Change begins at home” IKEA set up an Oval Office furnished with IKEA furniture at Union Station in DC, complete with the IKEA flag next to the American flag . I like !

IKEA and gay pride

My favorite item at the exhibit, so beautiful!

Art school extravaganza

So finally some real excitement going on at a Swedish art and design school !! Went to the spring graduate show at KKH (Kungliga Konsthögskolan/Royal College of Arts) and found tons of projects to be inspired and touched by… My four favorite projects are presented below.

The first thing greeting the visitors when entering the exhibit is this massive larger than life-toy sculpture stripped off its cute coat and exposed in all its cold machine-like structure! The sculpture moves while laughing hysterically – it´s called “The Destruction of the Ego” since it exists somewhere in between funny toy and completely mad creature who has lost all ego and control of his behavior and enjoys in almost painfully obsessive ways. Made by Tove Kjellmark.

Second project I´d like to share is this huge plastic bag-material installation with beautifully colored lights and a light wind . It´s made by Kristofer Wigren and had a vague explanation that I don´t remember a single word of . I simply loved the scale (I do have a weakness for huge things because I feel like they put life into perspective somehow), the “vulnerable” feel of the material, the shivering energy and the beautiful sound of the plastic material in the wind…

Third project is a painting/photography installation with a huge red painting with a stripe attached to it that continues over the ceiling and down on the other side of the room and back to the painting through the floor… The photography next to it (see the enlargement of a few of the pictures) is a series of human expression that goes from sadness to rage to despair. I love the braveness and boundlessness of this piece, and the way the photography and the painting together tell the story of an emotional eclipse that goes round and round and keeps returning to that big hurtful and maybe liberating red blob of intense emotion… (this is my interpretation of it ). Made by Malin Homberg.

Fourth picture is part of an installation by Mattias Karlsson. Not sure if there’s a deeper meaning behind this piece but I would totally buy this little table for my future apartment .

Hope

First image I want to share is a drawing my brother did, it´s been hanging in front of my desk since Christmas. I think it´s brilliant.