Life Forms: nature in contemporary art

The exhibition Life Forms at Bonniers Konsthall in Stockholm invites us (until 10 January) to join in a discussion about how the nature of our day is seen in contemporary art. The exhibition brings together a group of noted, internationally active artists who depict nature, the universe and the broader ecological contexts. In a time of environmental pollution and climate change, Life Forms is intended to reveal the way that the relationship between nature and culture, human and landscape, is depicted today. How does contemporary art imagine our life on earth? Is it an unmitigated apocalyptic landscape, trashed and exploited, that contemporary art travels through? Or is there, in art, room for new utopias, in which art can contribute to the discovery of new life forms? A desire to find a way back to an imagined, more original state, or does it present images of completely new worlds and life forms in which the centre stage is not occupied by human beings?

Life Forms has links with the land art and installation art of the 60s and 70s. The exhibition includes painting, drawing, installation, photography, video and large-scale sculpture. On display are Charles Avery’s project The Islanders, in which the artist has created his own world of unique flora and fauna, and Katie Paterson’s map of the 27,000 dead stars that people have discovered in the universe. Henrik Håkansson’s hundreds of orchids will cover the Konsthall from floor to ceiling. There is also a contribution from Jani Ruscica, whose video installation samples sounds made by bats with beatboxers from New York.

In another important aspect of the exhibition the Konsthall is showing a series of seminars and films. The exhibition will also be accompanied by the production, in collaboration with publishers Albert Bonniers Förlag, of an extensive anthology, the contributors being Swedish and international authors, theorists and the participating artists. This continues the collaboration that began with the volume Anachronisms to accompany the Against Time exhibition in 2007.

Sara Arrhenius is the exhibition curator. The exhibition architecture is made by Klas Ruin and Ola Broms Wessel at the architect office Spridd.

Participating artists: Micol Assaël, Charles Avery, Rosa Barba, Andreas Eriksson, Ane Graff, Tue Greenfort, Henrik Håkansson, Helen Mirra, Katie Paterson, Jani Ruscica, Tomas Saraceno.

Participating artists in the film programme: Bruce Conner, Nancy Holt, Gordon Matta-Clark, Ana Mendieta, Robert Smithson.

Pictures from above:
Henrik Håkansson, Broken Forest, 2006. Photo Bonniers Konsthall.
Charles Avery, Untitled (Lionel Leslie's Leviathan), 2009. Courtesy of Pilar Corrias Gallery.
Rosa Barba, They Shine, 2007. Courtesy of Carlier Gebauer.
Tue Greenfort, Closed Biosphere, 2003. Courtesy of Johann König.
Tue Greenfort, Microcosmos, Closed Biosphere, 2006 – 2009. Photo Bonniers Konsthall.
Tomas Saraceno, Iridiscent Planet, 2009. Photo Bonniers Konsthall.