Jonas Nobel, ”Display of Loss—This Play We Lost”

Jonas Nobel
Jonas Nobel, view of Display of Loss—This Play We Lost,
2010, image: Galleri Charlotte Lund

A narrative installation inspired by his mythical novel that also serves as an entry point, Jonas Nobel’s fourth solo exhibition, “Display of Loss—This Play We Lost,” offers his svelte sculptural version of a raft, as well as a geometric mountain range and a porthole-framed sketch with view of a tumultuous sea. The works are connected to the novel Nobel has written, which shares a title with the exhibition and tells the story of a burdened crew destined to fail in delivering unwanted merchandise to an infinite number of harbors, instead ending up shipwrecked on an island, disillusioned, and haunted by memories from their earlier lives.

Nobel hints that this exhibition’s essence is located in an undefined yet codependent space between the actual installation and his novel’s text. Inspired by a political climate of unfulfilled expectations, unpredictable results, and the cycle of consumption and waste, the Stockholm-based artist highlights the unreasonable thirst for more, allegorizing the consequences of unwarranted mass production. Displayed alongside the aforementioned objects is an artist’s book by Nobel titled The memory of this experience will fade and you will eventually die I’m sorry I’m so very very sorry, which includes exclamations such as “If you hurt me like this again I’ll fucking kill you,” and “Don’t worry the violence during night will end in the morning”—words linked to Nobel’s previous works in a text-image juxtaposition in the pages of his book. Strong-willed but soft with careful concern, “Display of Loss—This Play We Lost” exemplifies the ongoing romance afloat between fiction and art.To see the review in context, click here.

Edgar Cleijne & Ellen Gallagher, “Better Dimension”

Edgar Cleijne & Ellen Gallagher
Installation view. Image: Jacquelyn Davis.

Presenting collaborations between Dutch artist Edgar Cleijne and US artist and filmmaker Ellen Gallagher, ‘Better Dimension’ at Stockholm’s Bonniers Konsthall includes experimental works that provide socio-political commentary on US history and race relations from a cosmic, obscure distance. More »

Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA1)

Aslan Gaisumov
Aslan Gaisumov, People of No Consequence, 2016.

For the first Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art, curator Katarina Gregos has chosen to view Latvia as ‘the center of the world,’ where other regions and nationalities become satellites. This is refreshing, for the Baltics have previously been considered to have a peripheral status. More »

Johannes Heldén, “The Exploding Book”

Johannes Heldén
Johannes Heldén, Clouds, 2017.

As one enters the space temporarily designated for Swedish artist and poet Johannes Heldén’s The Exploding Book at Konstakademin’s in Stockholm, one detects that Heldén is receptive to nuance; each creative gesture confirms his dedication to both text and image, expressed with equitable consideration. More »

Malin Gabriella Nordin, “Floating from Within”

Malin Gabriella Nordin, Veil of Dreams, 2017. Image: Gallery Steinsland Berliner.

Stockholm-based artist Malin Gabriella Nordin is one of many Swedish women artists who resort to the basics – or perhaps the old ways, meaning they’re not particularly interested in the digital. More »

“Survival Kit 9”

Andris Eglītis, Laboratory of Poetic Research, 2017. Image: Jacquelyn Davis.

The 9th edition of Survival Kit is orchestrated by a small team of Baltic and Scandinavian curators: Jonatan Habib Engqvist, Solvita Krese and Inga Lāce. All possess a background in organizing independently and within the confines of institutions, which may be their strong point—their fluidity. More »

The 9th Momentum Biennial

Jenna Sutela, Sporulating Paragraph, 2017. Image: Momentum 9.

Momentum 9, taking place in the industrial town of Moss, Norway, is being curated by Ulrika Flink, Ilari Laamanen, Jacob Lillemose, Gunhild Moe, and Jón B.K. Ransu, who together represent the Scandinavian region. With this biennial’s focus on ‘alienation’, the curators joined forces to determine how alien processes and entities are infused in our lives through technological, ecological and social transformations. More »

Klas Eriksson, “Vet din mamma var du e?”

Klas Eriksson
Klas Eriksson, Evidence of Patchwork, 2017. Image: Göteborgs Konsthall.

Swedish artist Klas Eriksson has developed a practice rooted in examining subcultures via works in public spaces and spontaneous performances. With an interest in how power flows and how crowds function, the artist attempts to unpack sociopolitical dynamics using playful tactics. More »

Lovisa Ringborg, “Night Remains”

Lovisa Ringborg
Lovisa Ringborg, Fountain, 2017. Image: Cecilia Hillström Gallery.

In Lovisa Ringborg’s second exhibition at this gallery, the artist upholds the argument that displaying a set of harmonious works can be more potent than a plethora of free-floating entities. More »

Przemek Pyszczek, “1989”

Przemek Pyszczek
Przemek Pyszczek, Public Relief No 6, 2016. Image: Gallery Belenius.

Polish-born, Canadian-raised, Berlin-based artist Przemek Pyszczek displays new works which are primarily sculptural and mixed media, with stints into collage. More »