I create images, books & lectures. Publisher & curator for Styx Publishing at night. Researcher and Associate Professor in philosophy at day.
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Lectures: Keio University (Tokyo), University of Abuja (Nigeria), University of Cambridge (UK), University of Tehran (Iran), University of Beijing (China), University of Groningen (Netherlands), University of California at Berkeley (USA). Exhibitions: The National Gallery, Husby Art Hall, Färgfabriken, Skånes Konstförening, Fylkingen. Press: ArtForum, DN, Expressen, Aftonbladet. Galleries: Styx (Sthlm), GAC (Sthlm).
Below you will find a list of projects I am or have been involved in. Those at the top are current, those at the bottom less so.
Nostalgia
By imagining what the present could have been like would we have had a different set of ecological, religious, scientific and philosophical historical trajectories, it examines cultural and religious archetypes and experiments with chronographic displacement.
With a slight emphasis on shintoism, animism, Africana, and Sámi symbolism, the project projects alternative architectural infrastructures on our everyday lives and opens up new avenues for though. See more here.
Interspecies Communication
Interspecies Communication is a visual exploration of transspecific syntax, non-animal language and communication beyond species barriers.
The aim of this project is to examine why there is still such a big gap between human and non-human forms of communication and, by analyzing the symbols and patterns that condition our semantic behavior, explore how we can better start to understand one another. Read more here.
Biosemiotics
What if all living creatures in this universe were communicating with a unknown yet learnable language of signs? This at least is what Biosemiotics is about – a no longer so new branch of science aimed to explore the language of life itself.
The goal of this project is to contrubute to this evolving field from an artistic point of view, and, ultimately, the ambition is also to develop, establish and disseminate a transspecific semantics.
This does not only mean that we want to establish an art of communication so transparent that there no longer is any use to talk about species and their symbolic transgression. It also means that all communicative events will be based on a pair of emotional bonds conditioned by individual-to-individual relations: friendship and love.
We want to show that it is possible to listen as singularities, that is, as the multitudes, gangs, packs, swarms or bee-flower-like complextities we really are. Thus, we hope, can we eventually learn what it means to be a sentient being, and why we have woken up on this earth. Read more here.
Semiographics
Semiographics is a project about the history of human language. Through an animated series of looped visualizations the project aims to reawaken a self-critial approch to our innermost secret space and make us undertstand that what we say to one another is not the limits of what can be said. Read more here.
Geopoetics
The purpose of the geopoetics is to understand and conceptualize what it means to exist on this planet. This, however, is currently not possible because the language we need to use in talking about the earth is polluted by a complacent anthropocentric point of view. As a consequence, the geopoetics first of all needs to be an emancipatory undertaking. Even if the ultimate aim is existential, the more immediate task is political. Before we can ask what it means to exist on this planet, we need to liberate our language from an obsolete semantics and from an unwarranted reductionist point of view. Read more here.
Gubbängen Art Center
Gubbängen Art Center is a new place for arts and crafts in Gubbängen. We have just started and the center is slowly finding its form. Initially, we will primarily use the premises as a studio and workshop, but also organize some smaller exhibitions and markets. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Gubbängen Art Center is currently run by Tuva Widén, Olof Pettersson and Lisa Maria Pettersson. Olof is a conceptual artist with a background in philosophy. Tuva has a background in textiles from Konstfack and a degree in art from KHiB in Bergen (Norway). Lisa Maria has a MA from Konstfack and works as an artist in Stockholm. Read more here.
projectdolittle.com
Interspecies Communication Portal. Project Dolittle is an art and research project aimed to understand, explore and develop interspecies communication. At this site we gather all information available about how humans and non-humans share their experiences of what it means to be a sentient being. The purpose of this site is to learn and inform about how interspecies communication has been, is and should be understood. Find it here.
The aim of this project to make ourselves aware of the symbols and meanings of our own behavior. And we want to understand how the rich, clear and complex stories of sentient life other than our own has come to be ignored and dismissed. Ultimately, our ambition is to develop, establish and disseminate a transspecific semantics. This does not only mean that we want to establish an art of communication so transparent that there no longer will be any use to talk about species and their symbolic transgression. It also means that all communicative events will be based on friendship and love: a pair of emotional bounds conditioned by individual-to-individual relations. We want to listen to each other as singularities; as the multitudes, gangs or packs or swarms or bee-flower-like complextities we are. Thus, we hope, can we eventually learn what it means to be a sentient being, and why we have woken up on this earth. In order to reach this goal, we will need to dismantle a long tradition of anthropocentric science and philosophy. And we realize that the road to a new era of biosemantic research, informed by a cross-fertilization of anthropology and zoology, is rocky. There is a set of challenges that will need to be identified, analyzed and overcome. Read more here.
Tracing Ghost in the Body
The purpose of this project is to experimentally and theoretically develop methods to reach beyond our own bodies. We experimented with phanton pain and its clinical treatments. Tracning the ghost in the body and the body in the mind, we experimented with Marxian corporeatlity and used the teoretical framework of Derrida to reproduce virutal arms and tails by physial repetation to rellcall infant memories.
The project was finanzed by the The Royal Institute of Art (Sweden) as an Art Reseach Projektet in 2006. Read more here.
All is Full of Life
2021. Online Exhibition Inaugural show of our new series of Virtual Exhibitions, Aquarium. With this first show, “All is Full of Life” by Tuva Widén. With this we aim to set a new standard for a radical analysis of reality and create a new open space for the fragile exploration of geonomic development.
About the exhibition, from the Artist: “Our relationship with our surroundings should be always a relationship between living, sentient subjects. Yet, we often treat ourselves, our fellow humans and the living planet as instruments for external ends. We talk about the living forests, the mountains and the free flowing waters as non-sentient resources to be used for economic growth. We treat each other as instruments for individual prosperity. And we also exploit our own feelings and experiences to show them off to others so as to give the false impression of happiness and success in an endless and empty competition. The items you see investigate the underlying illusion of control. They explore the conditions of subjectivity. I have tried not to interfere too much. But open up, instead, for the other end of the spectrum.” See it here.
Aquarium
2021. In the shadow of the corona pandemic, Styx publishing house organizes ten virtual exhibitions. With these exhibitions, we set a new standard for how reality can be explored and establish an as yet unexplored space for the delicate work we do to map society’s rootless origins. Read more here.
Lost Paradigms
2017. Performance. Cyklopen. “We will carry out a radical restructuring of the earth’s channeled surface structures and use the site’s outward-facing walls to avoid devoting ourselves to trying to understand ourselves all the fucking time.
We will also release the American activist poet Eleanor Goldfield’s new book A Paradigm Lost. Eleanor “will himself be on site and read the book and tell where the cupboard should stand. In addition, there will be Gregorian psychedelia, harmonica, geocratic propaganda, concrete dancing and some other unpredictable extravagances.”
Styx Poetry Bar
2017. Poets and publishers from Styx publishing house tell and read from the publisher’s current collections of poems at Stockholm City Library.
Participating poets are Dhmnpss Aeouy, Martin Bergström Cerd, Karl Eklund, Emma Lundenmark, and others. Dhmnpss Aeouy is a collective pseudonym, current with the books “Intangible work in general intellect” (2015), “Deontology” (2015) and “What is geopoetics?” (2016). Will perform a collective geopoetic manifestation. Martin Bergström Cerd was born in 1973 in Stockholm. Trained mental health nurse. Lives with his children in Västerhaninge, Stockholm. Debuted in 2016 with “Enskede autarki”, and will perform lyrics from it and the upcoming “I IRAN”. Karl Eklund was born in 1979 and made his debut in 2009 at Styx publishing house with the book “Spider wreath grows”. In the autumn of 2017, his second collection of poems “Like the abrasion in the winter” will be published. Emma Lundenmark published the collection of poems “Organica Fläktrum” at Styx publishing house in 2010, and will perform texts from an upcoming work together with image projections by Lou Fallenius.
Lay Low
2016. Exhibition at Husby konsthall. “Geopoetics is to make room. The earth is flooded with voices. Nobody knows what’s going on. We listen to the minerals, animals & plants. The road is clear and low. Everything is no man’s land. We dig where we stand. Left there is a sphere of dark matter, a mystery, a ball of yarn, an abyss.”
A two days and nights with art, poetry, music, performance, food & bar in the sign of Geopoetics. 30 some participants from Styx with friends attempts to sort out the concepts. LAY LOW! Saturday and Sunday all day & night. Food & drinks cheap, bring cash. With Kelly Akashi, John Andersson, Autohorse, Raphael Boruta, Christian Cavallin, Iris Causevic, Timothy Crisp, Christofer Dahlby, Natasha Dumas, Leif Elggren, Lou Fallenius, Julia Feyrer, Helgi Thorgils Fridjonsson, Johanna Gustafsson Fürst, Gatuduvan, Grio, Tamara Henderson, Höstlegender, Katten & Björnen, Milan Kunc, Erik Lavesson, Kristoffer Lindfors, Daniel Lofthagen, Jens Lomm, CM Lundberg, Emma Lundenmark, Jonas Mathiasson, Giuliano Medici, Iwo Myrin, The New Age, Katarina Norling, Åsa Nylen, Eva Kristina Olsson, Vide Ohlin, Lisa Maria Pettersson, Olof Pettersson, Frida Rydblom, Joanna Rytel, Salomo, Iris Smeds, Linda Spjut, Tomas Stark, Natalie Sutinen, Technomuren, Marcus Tibbling, Tuva Widén…
Perma Culture
2013. Exhibiton at the National Gallery. After a few generations, it becomes clear. The idea is life threatening. Therefore, it must be redone from the beginning. The principle is simple, but the execution is difficult. Everything you need is on site: shredders, graters, meat grinders, shredders, balers, forage harvesters, a harrow, mowers, threshers and a yard.
Performances and art by Karl Eklund, Emma Lundenmark, Markus Tibbling, CM Lundberg & Iwo Myrin. On Saturday 8th, viBAR under the auspices of the National Gallery fr. at 18-cent. Kl. 19 Emma-Clara Folin performs and then during the evening Gatuduvan runs his thing on the street and inside the gallery. (More acts will be added.) On Wednesday 12th we have the finale: party and performances. ! NOTE! Fight Together! The brand new book “The State of Things and the State of Destruction of Things” will be in place. Cast: Anders Enge + Anna Karlkvist + Åsa Nylén + Christian Cavallin + Christopher Dalby + CM Lundberg + Daniel Lofthagen + Elin Källman + Emma Lundenmark + Emma-Clara Folin + Gatuduvan + Giuliano Medici + Iris Cauševic + Jens Lomm + John Andersson + Karl Eklund + Kathleen Fox + Cat Hernandez + Fight Together! + Kristoffer Lindfors + Markus Tibbling + Mattias Forshage + Niklas Nenzén + Olof Pettersson + Pelle Isaksson + Petri Junttila + Stina Stigell + Tarvi Teras + Timothy Crisp + Torbjörn Skogqvist.
Central Nervous System
2010. Exhibition at the National Galley in Old Town, Stockholm. With art by Karin Lindholm, Timothy Crisp, Camilla Ericson, Jonas Larsson & Erik Runefelt, Stina Stigell, Jens Lomm, Karin Edwall, Björn Serrander, Jakob Anckarsvärd, Kristoffer Lindfors, Iris Causevic, Marta Bencivenni, Mia Andrée samt Ivo Myrin. Downstairs, C.M. Lundberg, Åsa Nylén and Giuliano Medici atmosphere the lake and release the printed matter of the same name. Mingle and vernissage on the 4th at 13-17. Then party at 19- ?. Jakob Anckarsvärd releases his book Everyday Politics and speaks at 19.30. The following Saturday (the 11th), the surrealist group opens its exhibition. The central nervous system in the Old Town, National Gallery, Skomakargatan 3 (at Stortorget). Open June 5-9 at 15-21.
Head Container
2009. Exhibition, Fylkingen. 11e – 12e september 18-01. With johannes flink, nanok, johanna gustafsson fürst, tove forsblom, markus ekeblad, mikael grahn, joanna rytel, kristoffer lindfors, ulrika gomm, jonas enander, marja-leena sillanpää, helena boberg, mattias forshage, gisela schink, sten hanson, c.m. lundberg, kaarina ormio, stina stigell, plastic dirt, bo i. cavefors, en 1/2-kokt i folie, bröderna neumann, mia andrée, goz mongo alliance, the ray pacino ensemble, gästkurator jan åman presenterar AIDS3D, gall bladder, tectonic ox, janne liljekvist, mats rosén, eva engström, johannes bergmark, osiris & the return of dr. mexico, firas haki, emma lundenmark, daniel lofthagen, william bokelund, karl eklund, iris causevic, marta bencivenni, siri ekblad, victoria brännström. Book Fair. 13-17 on the 12e, with: oei, modernista, bokbål, rönnells, satumaa*kustantamo, firework, sphinx, diskret förlag, surrealistförlaget, lystring, diabolik, storno, styx et.al..
165DSL
2009. Exhibition. Book Release. Taking experiences of urban street art, the beauty of acid, the absence of money, the violence of amphetamines and the pornographic joy of being no one as a starting point, 165dsl aims for a clash with the production of desire & demand that maintains the cycle of Western society. 17-22 gallery hangups, rutger fuchsg.5,
Europen Cultural Policies
2008. Exhibition & Book Fair at Färgfabriken. With Styx förlag, Cavefors, Firework edition, Roh- nin, oei, Marja-Leena Sillanpää, Surrealistförlaget, Niklas Belenius förlag, Färgfabriken förlag och Lars Bohlin förlag. Release for the album ”live in L.A” from Firework edition. Livesession with C.M. von Hauswolff, Leif Elggren and Per Svensson. Performance by Sten Hanson and Pär Thörn. Readings by Kajsa Sundin, Bo Cavefors and Nanok at.al.
Black Waters
2008. Performance night. Büro 21. Skånes Konstförening, Kollektivverkstan, Bragegatan 15, Malmö. “En bra fest och ett andra släpp av Autistisk Kilskrift, Astruktion och glimtar från The Styx Ptyx Show.”
Styx TV: The Styx Ptyx Show
2008. Live emotional television. In collaboration with Good TV, Styx broadcasts new animated art, down-to-earth video and poetry to the people.
Twice a week on the OPEN CHANNEL. Date: 14/6, 17/6, 21/6, 24/6, 26/6, 28/6, 3/7, 5/7, 10/7, 12/7, 19/7, 24/7, 29/7, 2/8, 5/8, 9/8, 12/8. Thursdays and Sundays at 10 pm, Tuesdays at 5.30 pm.
Autistisk Kilskrift
2007. Exhibition at Färgfabriken in Stockholm and Artist Book Anthology. Read more here.
“Already after a few hours of reading, the image and text anthology ‘Autistic cuneiform’, published by the network of the same name, I am thrown over the railing. After me are thrown the causal chains of modernism and the deconstructions of postmodernism, one thought at a time determination and petting the obscurity of man. Splashing among the book’s energetic word cascades and nervous drawings, I’m looking for something to hold on to. It takes a while. Because with the Autistic Wedge Network’s nearly forty authors and artists, no fixed points are visible at first. In their delusional thought experiments, the idea of the construction of everything has been screwed up so tightly that not even the sure doubt remains. There is nothing definite here to decide on, respect or memorize. Only compound and noise-receiving people with broken origins and innumerable dimensions. A sad message if not the network’s mission seems to be to turn leaden into gold. No manifestos without issue. Unlike the deconstructors of the postmodernists, Autistic cuneiform seeks the specific logic of incoherent man. With paper and pencil, you look in the cluster’s pattern for the leakage of the lines and the orderly coincidences of the noise. The method is the illegible autistic cuneiform, named after both the automatism of the surrealists and the journal of the anarchists – and with the hand extended to all people with one or another functional imbalance in their difficult-to-diagnose brains. The ambiguous solutions of the riddles and the cheers of the escape go a long way as oxygen for dizzying poetry (Christian Andersson and Mattias Forshage) and beautifully overloaded philosophical prose texts. Olof Pettersson and Timothy Crisp are not content to explain man as an illusory ghost created by the definitions of others. It’s the ghost’s stringency you want. If the book’s texts allow me to glimpse this “glass pieces’ unintentional interplay”, the sharpness is more difficult to find in the network’s art images. At Bel Art Contemporary’s exhibition, the open space of cuneiform is transformed into a tentative space with too many powerful and conventional works. With a few notable exceptions. Like Leif Elggren’s drawings ‘Physiological frequencies’. When he softly and medially places his ballpoint pen against the paper, I understand the human being that the movement wants to evoke. A person stuck in the structure and loose in the contour. Leif Elggren winds up her sensory threads, which thicken when she is worried and thin out when she takes off and lands, in herself or in others. So no ghosts draw. So only a person with knowledge of man draws as the master of excuses and the inventor of good reasons” (Jessica Kempe for DN, translated by Google Translate.)