Sorteras under: Le Travail / Björn Lövin, 2018

File Under: The Work / Björn Lövin 

Null & Void Books

The book contains a walkthrough from an unrealised ”total exhibition” based on Björn Lövin´s oeuvre.

In the book there are also essays by Lisa Rosendahl och Emily Segal.

 

Concept and Editorial Work: Peo Olsson, Katarina Sjögren, Jonas Williamsson 

Image: Peo Olsson 

Curatorial Work: Katarina Sjögren 

Design: Jonas Williamsson 

Texts: Lisa Rosendahl, Emily Segal, Katarina Sjögren 

Print: Tallinna Raamatutrükikoda.

Edition: 500.

Format: 21,5 x 29,5 cm. 416 sidor. Offset.

 

 

Björn Lövin (1937–2009) was one of the first Swedish installation artists and his large scale works was critical to totalitarian systems, ranging from the People’s Home (Folkhemmet) to the consumption society, which includes some and excludes others and attract by offering safety, but at the cost of individual freedom. His career started with a solo show at Moderna Museet curated by Pontus Hultén and included solo shows at Centre Pompidou in Paris, Liljevalchs and Kulturhuset in Stockholm and at Malmö Konsthall amongst others.

 

 

In two sketches, one in english and one in swedish, the idea of the ”total exhibition” is presented and this were to include most of his works, mostly large installation pieces and his films, come together as a concluding gesamtkunstwerk. The pieces were meant to be seen through each other to create an ”effect of depth” that would make the relationships between the installations more complex. It is unsure if the sketch were to be realised, as it demands a lot from the size and shape of the room and also that Mr Lövin was not very careful in saving his artworks. The pieces that were part of the installations were treated as props and have not always been saved for posterity.

 

 

In the book we have recreated his idea of the total exhibition ”The Work” by digitally visualising in 3D, the technology behind a vast part of the contemporary commercial imagery. We have used a production method that is common today, where a lot of the detailed work has been created through different communities and services on the internet. The work is based on archive material and the photographic documentation that is available in private and public archives and in books and films. We have created a digital spatiality that simulate a physical one, another form of reality, from  Lövin´s idea. The form has traces of the digital creation, a tone of hyperrealism. In the attempt we have instead created a new exhibition, a new reality that is based on the work of Lövin, but not as a direct translation.

 

 

In the texts curator Lisa Rosendahl deals with Lövin´s work from the perspective of hers and todays general commercial environment and relates his work to contemporary artists. Writer Emily Segal closes in on Lövin´s works from a closer look at Lövin´s alter ego, Mr P´s paintings of the Konsum logotype.

 

 

KATARINA SJÖGREN ran the gallery Crystal in Stockholm with Jun-Hi Wennergren Nordling. Katarina worked as a project manager and administrative director at Tensta Konsthall, and at Konstfack University of Art, Crafts and Design as a guest teacher and head of department. She is a member of the board at Tensta Konsthall and has been a member of the board of the Swedish Gallery Association. She has written texts to artists’ monographs and about many of the works in the Absolute Art Collection. She has curated exhibitions and taught at Art and Design Schools. Today she is active as director at the gallery Belenius in Stockholm. Katarina Sjögren holds a bachelor in Art History and is approved as senior lecturer in curatorial practices. 

 

 

JONAS WILLIAMSSON is a graphic designer working in the field of culture. Often with a strategy of using what is at stake outside of its expression, Williamsson’s design could be understood as a design for its non-expression. He graduated with MFA from Konstfack in 1999 and same year co-founded the graphic design and illustration collective REALA. Since 2007 he’s running his own studio in Stockholm focusing on graphic design articulated through programs and publications for commissioners within the fields of visual and performing arts. His work has been awarded by Svensk bokkonst, Kolla!, The New York Art Directors Club and Årets bedste Bogarbejde 2018.