W hatever the words used, over the last decade a
rich dialogue abo ut craft’s changing goals, aesthetics
and values has been incited by a visionary group
o f Stockholm residents.
Holmstrand, an artist who works with knit-
ting, crocheting and hooking; and Asa Jung-
nelius, a glass and ceramic artist and
w w i-
a f m
member whose recent work leans
toward sculpture.
“We don’t label the work we represent,”
Sjögren explains, “and I think that’s a gen-
erational thing. Our generation grew up
thinking of craft as a meeting spot.” While
Sjögren maintains that the space is a com-
mercial art gallery, she also says that, “our
mission is to question the structure of a gal-
lery.
.. it’s hard to pin down, but that’s the
point. We want to be open to our surround-
ings and to what interests us.” Like Inger-
Molin, Crystal Palace reserves the right to
irregular programming. “We want to use
our skills as cultural producers to find other
ways of representing people, like by curating
shows outside of the gallery,” Sjögren says.
Platina, a jewelry gallery located just a
short walk from Crystal Palace, also advo-
cates an experimental approach. Founded
in 1999 by jewelry maker Sofia Björkman,
the space initially looks like a regular shop,
but opens up to a large gallery and studio
space that can offer exhibitions and semi-
nars. According to Björkman, “at Platina
you will find no ordinary manufactured
jewelry. Instead you’ll meet with protesting
jewelry, storytelling, gossiping, chanting
and crying jewelry.”
Uglycute, a collective consisting of two
artists, Markus Degerman and Jonas Nobel;
an architect, Fredrik Stenberg; and an inte-
rior designer, Andreas Nobel, also offers
exhibitions, workshops, lectures and semi-
nars inside a multi-purpose space. Since they
started working together in 2000, Uglycute
has created ’zines, objects and interior de-
signs that reevaluate accepted truths about
craft aesthetics and meanings. Recent Ugly-
cute public programs have included a semi-
nar on French philosopher Gilles Deleuze
and a release party for the art and theory
magazine
Merge.
The largest space dedicated to contempo-
rary craft is about 20 minutes outside of the
city, in the tiny, seaside town of Gustavs-
berg. Dag Landvik, who owns most of
the historic ceramic and porcelain factory
buildings there, asked Caroline Sôdergren,
the director of his glass workshop, to create
a contemporary gallery out of the building
where factory workers used to pray. Sôder-
gren persuaded ceramic artists Maj Sandell
and Agneta Linton to develop and run the
space, named Gustavsbergs Konsthall.
Sandell, the artistic director, and Linton,
exhibition producer, opened the space
in 2007 and have hired a team to help them
produce five to eight museum-like exhibi-
tions per year.
“The craft field in Sweden is very strong
and fast moving, but there was no institu-
tion to advance our discussions,” Linton
explains. “There have been very good iso-
lated efforts, but we wanted to do some-
thing more long term.” With over 1,200
square feet of space, Gustavsbergs Konst-
hall has been able to host major contempo-
rary craft exhibitions, such as the 2009/2010
“Tumult - A Dialogue on Craft in Move-
ment” show, which included historically
significant works from the 1960s and ’70s
alongside a site-specific, three-dimensional
board game created by W W
1
A F M . Other
exhibitions have included the contemporary
glass overview' “Red Bear Green Goat” and
“Hit My Eye,” a film and video screening
of works about the performance of craft.
Gustavsbergs Konsthall also runs a vital
Ceramic & Glass Expo, which is a reason-
ably priced store of books, videos, and clas-
sical and avant-garde ceramics and glass.
The membership-based studio program
G-studion is located around the comer from
Gustavsbergs Konsthall. Several artists
who work at the Konsthall, such as up-and-
coming ceramist August Sorenson, have
studio space there. Located in three inter-
connected former factory buildings, these
studio spaces provide community', kilns and
access to the public through several open
houses per year. Once accepted into the
program, the G-studion residents can stay
as long as they' like. Rent subsidies are avail-
able from the government to those who
live in Stockholm.
Back in the city, there are other spaces
to look at contemporary craft, but they' are
itinerant and unpredictable. You have to
train your eyes to find bright spots of tactile
color, maybe around a bench, a streetlamp
or a bike rack. There are two local groups
responsible for this knitted graffiti—Mas-
querade and Stickkontakt—and the defini-
tive way to tell them apart is to check the
nametag tied into their homemade fabric.
From their playful work to the driven ef-
forts of Zandra Ahl, Stockholm is a city of
makers who have taken crafted form into
their own hands. +
Sabrina Gschwandtner, a New York City-
basedartist and writer, is the author
"/Knit-
Knit: Profiles + Projects from Knitting’s
New Wave
(200/).
094 american craft
feb/m ario
www.journal-plaza.net & www.freedowns.net
Aleborg photo courtesy of Platina.
