SUSANNE EWERLÖF
Artistic Researcher and Freelance Curator
Escaping Space, May 28 - October 2, 2016
Fullersta Gård, Stockholm
The summer exhibition of 2016 at Fullersta Gård shows work by eight artists who are interested in the rules that govern physical reality. This is done by demonstrating its conditions and sometimes by suggesting ways out of the present moment. They examine the possibility to move between real and imaginary places through the power of thought or sensory impulses.
Escaping Space contains videos, installations and paintings. Some of the works are direct and lures the visitor from the exhibition space to a world created by the artist; a spatial illusion or an entire fantasy world. Some offer escapism where the viewer gets to imagine an alternate reality, while some use sensory or aesthetic inducements to evoke desire.
To mentally create places is a creative activity and an important part of an art experience. Alongside the visual arts this ability also plays into the experience of watching a play, a film or to read a book. The capability to see beyond what is presented before our eyes makes the experience stronger and a viewer or a reader is in this sense always a co-creator of a work. Spaces that we partake in through stories by others’ are a kind of hybrids in which several notions and fantasies intertwine.
Participating artists: Louise Blad, Kah Bee Chow, Paul Fägerskiöld, Harp Dögg Kjartansdóttir, Katarina Nord, Jenny Palén, Maja Rohwetter, Aykan Safoğlu
Curator: Susanne Ewerlöf
IdentityLab Sessions
Istanbul, May 20-21 2016
This two-day art event will bring artists and art professionals from Turkey and Sweden, who are interested in identity issues, together in Istanbul. These sessions are organized by maumau art residency (TR) and Verkstad konsthall (SE) and will take place at the Consulate General of Sweden, DEPO and Galata Greek Primary School on May 20th and 21st and provide a platform to talk about the relation between place and identity and its effect on different art practices.
Aiming to become a platform for discussion on these issues, the IdentityLab team invites artists and art professionals who represent different perspectives. This will give us the opportunity to talk about their personal experiences of ‘place’, its relation to their identities, and their feeling of belonging to various sites. We will also talk about the position of artists representing different minority groups in both Sweden and Turkey, and the role of the visiting artists addressing ‘place’ in unfamiliar locations.
Participating Artists: Fikret Atay, Nancy Atakan, Hera Büyüktaşçıyan, Elmas Deniz, Işıl Eğrikavuk, Katarina Pirak Sikku, Liv Strand, Can Sungu, Lisa Torell, Ferhat Özgür
Curators: Naz Cuguoğlu and Susanne Ewerlöf
Selma Selman - Don't look into Gypsy Eyes
Fullersta Gård, February 20 -April 10, 2016
Selma Selman was born in 1991 in Bosnia –Herzegovina and belongs to the Roma nationality. She processes her identity in her art, which consists of painting, performance and video. Although she sometimes sees herself as a representative of a people she emphasizes that she most of all represent herself. She often figures in her works, for instance the video Roma Performing the Flag Act 1 (2013 ) shows the artist turn cart-wheels on a lawn against a blue sky which renders the Roma flag.
Also in Do not Look Into Gypsy Eyes (2013), shown in Sweden for the first time in Fullersta Gård, she returns to her Roma heritage. Here visitors hear Selman repeat several of the absurd beliefs that exist around Roma people. By warning us of the risks linked to looking into a Roma woman's eyes as she spans gaze of the viewer, she plays on people's fear of the unknown.
Becoming by Recalling – Linköping Passagen Konsthall
May 23- August 9, 2015
The project was formulated around a number of notions regarding heritage and identity. It linked the activity of preserving communal memories to the nation-state project as well as the personal endeavour of understanding one’s place in the world or a given community. The making of heritage consists of many cultural acts and expressions and a complex dynamic of memories and identities.
Twelve artists from the Nordic countries and Ukraine participated and showed installations, videos, sculptures and public art work. Several artists produced new works for the exhibition and the show streched far beyond the art space. Public works was also showed at a square in the city, at the city library and in the historical museum Gamla (Old) Linköping.
A number of critical perspectives were presented in the exhibition. Sofia Hultin (SE) adressed the lack of lesbian stories in the local art museum, Mykola Ridnyi (UKR) described the destruction of public art and cultural heritage in Ukraine, Silje Figenschou Thoresen and Carola Grahn brought up issues relevant for the Sami community and the Fashion collective This is Sweden presented a anti-racist project.
Besides the exhibition the project also consisted of a catalogue and a seminar.
The Fugue - OuUnPo Research Session XIV STOCKHOLM | 4-8 FEBRUARY 2015
An international art and science festival in Stockholm with the artistic collective OuUnPo. Talks, workshops, performances, screenings and parties took place in different venues in Stockholm during 5 days.
The festival was organized by Vision Forum and Curatorial Mutiny in collaboration with Bonniers Konsthall, Hallwylska museet, Dansmuseum, Italienska Kulturinstitutet, MDT, KKH and Iaspis - The Swedish Arts Grants Committee's International Programme for Visual Artists. The festival was curated by Stephen Whitmash and Elena Nemkova with assistance by Susanne Ewerlöf.
For more info: www.ouunpo.com/stockholm
NORRKÖPING AIR
2013 - ongoing during summers
Norrköping Air is an experimental, international residency program organised by Vision Forum, Verkstad and Linköpings universitet in close collaboration with Norrköping Art Museum and Museum of Forgetting, The program runs summertime and hosts three artists at the time. Participants team up with a local curator or institution at an early stage and the residency is focused on production.
Previous artists in residence: Natasha Rosling, Anna Hess, Johanna Adebäck, Quynh Vantu, Vanja Sandell Billstöm and Vijai Patchineelam.
For more info: www.norrkopingair.blogspot.se
ACTING IN THE CITY | Norrköping Art Museum
28 September 2013 - 5 January 2014
Who´s in chargé of our urban space and who shapes our city? Acting in the City is based on an idea of the city being a theatrical scene, where the citizens are the actors and creators. Streets and squares are venues for events and meetings, actions or interactions are viewed as a role play. The particpating artists in Acting in the City each have their own unique background. They focus on questions of space and human behaviour. The exhibition relates to both specific local occurances and to those of other cities around the world.
Participating artists: Johanna Adebäck, Falah Alani, Catti Brandelius, Ylva Ceder, Carl Johan De Geer, Claudia Djabbari, Öyvind Fahlström, Unni Gjertsen, Jeppe Hein, Fredric Ilmarson, Matti Kallioinen, Martin Karlsson Tebus, Gunilla Klingberg, Local A.: Jenny Berntsson och Felice Hapetzeder, Carsten Nicolai, Katarina Nitsch, Stina Opitz, Hans Rosenström, Viktor Rosdahl, Natasha Rosling, Albert Sjöström, Erik Wessel-Fougstedt och Barbro Östlihn.
Curated by: Susanne Ewerlöf and Helena Persson
MED STADEN SOM SCEN | Norrköpings institutions centennial celebration, June - December 2013
The Art Museum, City Museum and City Library in Norrköping celebrated their 100 year jubilee in 2013. The project Med staden som scen was made up of many events during the summer and autumn and included people in Norrköping in art activities of various kinds. The artists Katarina Nitsch, Local A and Unni Gjertsen worked together with citizens in Norrköping to create their works for Acting in the City. Youths and children where the main target groups for the events.
The project report (in Swedish)
STUDIO H | A temporary (2010-2013) project space at Norrköping Art Museum
Studio H was a project space for transdisciplinary events aimed towards youths and young adults in Norrköping. I developed the concept when I was the Program Coordinator ar Norrköping Art Museum. We hosted public meetings between visual artist and creators from other artistic fields such as Fashion, Game design and Craft. Each meeting lasted 1-7 days and consisted of events, workshops, lectures and small exhibitions. Local amateurs and professionals and researchers had integrations between each-other and the public. The format was created by me and a reference group of young event managers and art entusiasts who later became co-coordinators for the events we produced between 2011 and 2013. They provided a new athmosphere to the museum as a place for noisy workshops, unpredictable meetings and try-outs.
PROJECTS:
Does it Fit? 25-26 mars 2011.
Participants: Bea Szenfelt, Marie O'Connor, Jacob Östberg fil.dr in Economics, Modevetenskapliga institutionen på Stockholms Universitet, Erik Annerborn, Lånegarderoben mfl
Make a Sound, 28-29 oktober 2011
In collaboration with Ljudkultur at Linköpings University and Annan Musik. Participants: Kim Cascone, Tomas Forsberg, Gulbeden Külay, Electroacoustic Cafe (James Brewster), Dansstudion in Norrköping,
Ruta till ruta, 11-13 novembuer 2011
Studio H produced parts of the local festival on comics and graphic storytelling. Participants: Lars Arrhenius, Kristina Mejhammar, Siri Wibell, William Sulka, Rodrigo Obon, Marcus Pettersson och Eva Cederwall.
SHAPE IT UP! 12 maj 2012
On contemporary craft. Participants: Hanna Lundborg (from Art Lab (Rejmyre), Alex Aurimea och Emanuel Almborg, Simon Klenell, Henrik Carlsson, Anna Nygren and Sofie Larsson
Play a Game, 19 december 2012
Annika Olofsdotter, game researcher, Södertörns Högskola, Nifflas, NärCon, Anna Sandgren, konstnär, NEMCOM mfl
Med staden som scen, performance festival 25-27 oktobner 2013
Studio H produced "Alla måste duscha" by artist Sofia Hultin in collaboration with a group of local youths.
