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Black Iris - Explosive Vision

“Explosive Vision” takes place at Gasverket, designed by Ferdinand Boberg in 1903, a venue of both social and historical significance, inviting visitors to an exhibition where past and present intertwine.

The exhibition is a playful encounter between Black Iris’s wide-open pupil and the weathered Gas House, in an intoxicating, gas-powered blend of forward-looking visions resonating with the deteriorating surroundings. The industrial site is transformed into a laboratory for artistic experimentation and with gas as a catalyst the artworks reflect on altered states of mind and the impermanence of existence.

Previously, Gasverket served as a gathering place where Stockholm residents collected their gas tokens. Today, the Black Iris collective combines the site’s history with the contemporary art scene, resulting in a bold collision of old and new. From neon lights to the rhythmic hum of machinery, gas is an often-overlooked element of our environment. Like a ubiquitous and ephemeral gas, the artworks ignite fleeting moments and preserve them for eternity.

Featured artists are Maria Nordin, Gunilla Klingberg, Johan Thurfjell, Matthias van Arkel, Stefan Otto, Anneè Olofsson, Juan Pedro Fabra Guemberena, Anna Camner, Ulrika Sparre, Marcus Mårtenson, Julia Peirone, and Éva Mag.

Special Thanks to Stockholm Art Week, Samsung, Castellum, ArtMove, ISH, Erik Åström, and Peter Sellberg.

More info: stockholmartweek.se

The exhibition “Explosive Vision” at the Gas Works (May – June 2023) attracted over 2,000 visitors and received positive reviews and coverage in leading Swedish newspapers and art magazines.

 
Black Iris - Explosive Vision

Black Iris - Explosive Vision, Stockholm Art Week, Photographer: Sandra Myhrberg

Black Iris - Explosive Vision

Black Iris - Explosive Vision, Stockholm Art Week, Photographer: Sandra Myhrberg

Anneè Olofsson
Mattias Camner Mattias Camner

Anneè Olofsson

Solo exhibition at Höganäs Museum och Konsthall

03/07/2021 – 22/08/2021

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SPOTLIGHT

Ulrika Sparre

The 12-meter-long text-based artwork ON A CLEAR DAY I CAN SEE FOREVER (2015-2024) by Ulrika Sparre is installed on the balcony of the SSE main building by Art Initiative as part of the exhibition Ulrika Sparre at Handels.

In her art, Ulrika Sparre draws our attention to the mystery of existence. The phrase on the banner balances the border between poetry and existential uncertainty. What does such a sentence mean? Is it a maxime (words of wisdom)? Or is it a mantra that Ulrika Sparre provides us with? Are the words a slogan for a long-term perspective?  

The exhibition also involves the lightbox As I reach up I will eventually reach the horizon, 2012 (on the stage in the atrium of the school); the film Ear to the Ground (Golden Monolith & Black Monolith), 2024 (on the small screen in the north corridor); the sculptures In the future when all mysteries are solved, 2018, The entire universe is created by me, 2018, and five Antennstenar (“Antenna Stones”), 2017 (in the north corridor, ground floor windows).

In the film Ear to the Ground (Golden Monolith & Black Monolith), 2024, Ulrika seeks contact with a stone in the Bregaglia Valley, the landscape where the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) grew up. Sparre enters a dialogue with the stone through the poem Conversations with a stone by Wislawa Szymborska from 1962. This is the first time the film is shown in Sweden. In the window niches right across the screen, five antenna stones are seeking contact. Resting in another window are two more stones: one engraved black diabase stone, In the future when all mysteries are solved, and one red granite stone with the text The entire universe is created by me. True, or what?

More info: ulrikasparre.com

Ulrika Sparre at handels - ON A CLEAR DAY I CAN SEE FOREVER. Photo: Fredrik Sweger

Ulrika Sparre

Snapshots from Black Iris artists

Johan Thurfjell -The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits (2022).

Animation, 19:40 min HD video (19:45 min), dyed linen, ash wood sizes variable.

Regardless of his choice of material or technique Thurfjell’s sculptures, paintings, video works, and installations show a visible enjoyment and dexterity in his handcraft.

 

Johan Thurfjell

The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits (2022).
Japanese mythology is full of spirits. These could come in many guises and be both good and evil. The time of day when in the folkloric belief they were most prominent was dusk. In the dim blue light, after the sun had set but before the darkness of night had fallen, it was thought that the line between our world and the spirit world was at its thinnest. Then the spirits could come over into our world and we into theirs. This hour is called Omagatoki, which translated into English is The hour of meeting evil spirits. The film ‘The Hour of Meeting Evil Spirits’ is made up of around thirty digitally processed Japanese woodcuts from the early 19th century.

Julia Peirone’s installation ‘Squeaky Stardust’ (2023).

Videoloop and 68 small photographs.

Make up: Albin Rydholm
Modell: Siri

 

Julia Peirone

Julia Peirone’s installation ‘Squeaky Stardust’ (2023) features both a video work as well as a series of polaroid-like images. A heavily made-up model can be seen slowly turning around with music playing in the background. Reminiscent of a ballerina in a music box, she circles around and around. A female voice can be heard saying ‘smile’ and the girl complies over and over again. The camera flashes capturing her grimacing, and her makeup smears when she tears up. The attention from the unseen photographer becomes distressing while a toy squeaks covering any vocal expression from the protagonist.

Stefan Otto - Breathing Black and White,

4K video loop, 5 minutes, 15 seconds, 2019

 

Stefan Otto

”I had an idea for a claustrophobic room that seemed to breathe. As if the room itself was struggling for air. I imagined it belonging to an unpleasant person, someone who thinks in absolutes; right and wrong, true or false, black and white... no in-betweens.” - Stefan Otto