TALK MENDRISIO USI
Welcome
DECEMBER 6, 2024
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EXHIBITION USI MENDRISIO WITH ARRHOV FRICK
ARRHOV FRICK
URSPRUNG
Origine/Origin
With Mikael Olsson
Exhibition promoted by the Academy of Architecture of the Università della Svizzera italiana
Curated by Arrhov Frick
15 November 2024 – 2 March 2025
The exhibition path on the ground floor and first gallery of the Teatro dell’architettura Mendrisio is marked by thematic sections, all of which refer to the design research and method of the Swedish architecture firm Arrhov Frick. They are accompanied by numerous drawings by the architects and large photographs by Swedish artist and photographer Mikael Olsson, who has developed a personal approach in his way of interpreting architecture, namely a radical re-vision and re-presentation through the photographic medium.
NOVEMBER 14, 2024
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EXHIBITION HAVREMAGASINET BODEN
THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE HOME
JUNE 10, 2024
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EXHIBITION HAVREMAGASINET BODEN
THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE HOME
08 JUNE 2024 – 29 SEPTEMBER 2024
Exhibition at Havremagasinet, Boden.
Mikael Olsson, LWRNTZ 01 (Workers’ housing, Karlshäll, Luleå, 1911–13, with T. Stubelius), 2021.
What is a home, beyond the purely concrete space, beyond the architecture, beyond the imagery of home advertisements? The exhibition The Foundations of the Home explores what constitutes a home in its most basic parts: material, sensual and conceptual. Centered around eight foundations – memory, space, the hearth, tradition, care, the shell of the home, the measure of the home, food –, the fundamental and timeless characteristics of the home are interpreted and reinterpreted based on practical, economic, architectural and ideological aspects. In this, the home appears both as a concrete place and as an image, in which current issues of sustainability, authenticity and security are deepened and problematized. The contributions to the exhibition cover building construction, furniture design, carpentry and art, and demonstrate how rules and norms, standardizations and language shape our understanding of the home materially and metaphorically.
The exhibition is curated by Mikael Andersson and Erik Törnkvist.
JUNE 8, 2024
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ART NOTES
ART NOTES by Karolina Modig
FEBRUARY 25, 2024
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EXHIBITION TEATERGRILLEN
Mikael Olsson At
Teatergrillen, Stockholm
30 January - 3 March, 2024
Self-portraiture has a long and meandering history. Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Sarah Lucas, Amalia Ullman, Rafia Santana. If portraiture can be categorised as a social encounter, the self-portrait is a perceptual encounter with one’s own body, and all the physical constraints that such an act entails. The physiological impossibility of seeing oneself has fascinated artists for centuries and inspired great works that play with these limitations. The self-portraits of Mikael Olsson – which are actually demi-self-portraits, as they only capture the top of his head and his bespectacled eyes – are a brilliant entry into the mirror halls of art history.
- Sinziana Ravini
Olsson’s self-portraits/selfies challenge the narcissistic use of selfies as well as the status of influencers. Further he destabilizes the composition of a traditional selfie where the eye line is recommended to be one-third down from the top frame. Through play and intuition, Olsson’s images are marked by both intimacy and distance, the role of his own physical presence and the perceptive relationship to the surroundings.
JANUARY 30, 2024
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Private viewings Nordenhake
T NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
See my work for T New York Times Style Magazine . In southern Sweden, a former schoolhouse has become a minimalist live-work space for the designer Ingegerd Råman — responsible for iconic Ikea collections, including the limited-edition 2016 Viktigt rattan-and-bamboo furniture and accessories line, as well as pared-down crystal vessels for the Swedish glassmaker Orrefors — and her partner of more than 50 years, Claes Söderquist, an artist and experimental filmmaker.
AUGUST 23, 2023
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WHAT IS A HOUSE FOR
Mikael Olsson on Frösakull House by Bruno Mathsson. Read the interview at www.whatisahousefor.com
FEBRUARY 16, 2023
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ARKITEKTUR
Cover story for magazine Arkitektur 1/2023 is out now. The blue house in Djursholm by architect Byggfenomen + Westblom Krasse Arkitektkontor and 2BKA is also published.
New editor Björn Ehrlemark.
FEBRUARY 8, 2023
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LWRNTZ (WORK IN PROGRESS) - MIKAEL OLSSON/JAN ERIK LUNDSTRöM
An excavation of Sigurd Lewerentz’ architectural remains.
First book out from Sweden's new architectural publisher Andersson Örn!
From the preface:
In this book, we are given a rare glimpse into Mikael Olsson’s ongoing work LWRNTZ: an artistic investigation of Sigurd Lewerentz’(1885–1975) architecture. Olsson’s finalized project will later on be published in a more extensive format, similar to his works ”Södrakull Frösakull” and ”on | auf” . Some of the photographs included here will possibly reappear, others may be reevaluated and disappear along the way. After all, this is a work in progress.
Lewerentz’ work spans over many decades and across a number of building types, styles, materials and techniques. This width is apparent in Olsson’s project, which could be labeled as an excavation of Lewerentz’ architectural remains, both known and unknown, wellpreserved and decayed.
This book is also a dialogue between the artist and photographer Mikael Olsson, and the curator and critic Jan-Erik Lundström – a dialogue, covering the photographic field, its actors, histories and theories, that began with a series of Zoom conversations between Olsson, Lundström and the editor of this book in 2021.
From Jan-Erik Lundström's essay:
The title LWRNTZ – which can be understood as a metonym, suggesting that here is a series of utterances which speak and express through proximity rather than similarity, hinted at by its omission of the vowels (three e) from Lewerentz’ name – illuminates and highlights a productive tension between referent (Lewerentz’ buildings) and figure (Olsson’s photographs), between motif and image, between the world of objects and things and – precisely – their metaphorical and metonymic representation. Indeed, the dimension of closeness is saturated and dense, both asymptotically and emphatically. The photographs live off, are nurtured by, and take place in the vicinity of these buildings, even if their primary aim is not necessarily to reproduce or represent them. The photos appreciate and honor the building’s independent status. It is a closeness that borders on merging, but that never crosses the line. Nearness but not parity or similarity.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
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Welcome
DECEMBER 6, 2024
Share on Facebook Twitter
→ Mendrisio USI
EXHIBITION USI MENDRISIO WITH ARRHOV FRICK
ARRHOV FRICK
URSPRUNG
Origine/Origin
With Mikael Olsson
Exhibition promoted by the Academy of Architecture of the Università della Svizzera italiana
Curated by Arrhov Frick
15 November 2024 – 2 March 2025
The exhibition path on the ground floor and first gallery of the Teatro dell’architettura Mendrisio is marked by thematic sections, all of which refer to the design research and method of the Swedish architecture firm Arrhov Frick. They are accompanied by numerous drawings by the architects and large photographs by Swedish artist and photographer Mikael Olsson, who has developed a personal approach in his way of interpreting architecture, namely a radical re-vision and re-presentation through the photographic medium.
NOVEMBER 14, 2024
Share on Facebook Twitter
→ USI
EXHIBITION HAVREMAGASINET BODEN
THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE HOME
JUNE 10, 2024
Share on Facebook Twitter
→ The Foundations of the Home: Havremagasinet länskonsthall Boden 2024
EXHIBITION HAVREMAGASINET BODEN
THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE HOME
08 JUNE 2024 – 29 SEPTEMBER 2024
Exhibition at Havremagasinet, Boden.
Mikael Olsson, LWRNTZ 01 (Workers’ housing, Karlshäll, Luleå, 1911–13, with T. Stubelius), 2021.
What is a home, beyond the purely concrete space, beyond the architecture, beyond the imagery of home advertisements? The exhibition The Foundations of the Home explores what constitutes a home in its most basic parts: material, sensual and conceptual. Centered around eight foundations – memory, space, the hearth, tradition, care, the shell of the home, the measure of the home, food –, the fundamental and timeless characteristics of the home are interpreted and reinterpreted based on practical, economic, architectural and ideological aspects. In this, the home appears both as a concrete place and as an image, in which current issues of sustainability, authenticity and security are deepened and problematized. The contributions to the exhibition cover building construction, furniture design, carpentry and art, and demonstrate how rules and norms, standardizations and language shape our understanding of the home materially and metaphorically.
The exhibition is curated by Mikael Andersson and Erik Törnkvist.
JUNE 8, 2024
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→ Havremagasinet
ART NOTES
ART NOTES by Karolina Modig
FEBRUARY 25, 2024
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→ ART NOTES
EXHIBITION TEATERGRILLEN
Mikael Olsson At
Teatergrillen, Stockholm
30 January - 3 March, 2024
Self-portraiture has a long and meandering history. Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Sarah Lucas, Amalia Ullman, Rafia Santana. If portraiture can be categorised as a social encounter, the self-portrait is a perceptual encounter with one’s own body, and all the physical constraints that such an act entails. The physiological impossibility of seeing oneself has fascinated artists for centuries and inspired great works that play with these limitations. The self-portraits of Mikael Olsson – which are actually demi-self-portraits, as they only capture the top of his head and his bespectacled eyes – are a brilliant entry into the mirror halls of art history.
- Sinziana Ravini
Olsson’s self-portraits/selfies challenge the narcissistic use of selfies as well as the status of influencers. Further he destabilizes the composition of a traditional selfie where the eye line is recommended to be one-third down from the top frame. Through play and intuition, Olsson’s images are marked by both intimacy and distance, the role of his own physical presence and the perceptive relationship to the surroundings.
JANUARY 30, 2024
Share on Facebook Twitter
Private viewings Nordenhake
T NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE
See my work for T New York Times Style Magazine . In southern Sweden, a former schoolhouse has become a minimalist live-work space for the designer Ingegerd Råman — responsible for iconic Ikea collections, including the limited-edition 2016 Viktigt rattan-and-bamboo furniture and accessories line, as well as pared-down crystal vessels for the Swedish glassmaker Orrefors — and her partner of more than 50 years, Claes Söderquist, an artist and experimental filmmaker.
AUGUST 23, 2023
Share on Facebook Twitter
→ T New York Times Style Magazine
WHAT IS A HOUSE FOR
Mikael Olsson on Frösakull House by Bruno Mathsson. Read the interview at www.whatisahousefor.com
FEBRUARY 16, 2023
Share on Facebook Twitter
→ WHAT IS A HOUSE FOR
ARKITEKTUR
Cover story for magazine Arkitektur 1/2023 is out now. The blue house in Djursholm by architect Byggfenomen + Westblom Krasse Arkitektkontor and 2BKA is also published.
New editor Björn Ehrlemark.
FEBRUARY 8, 2023
Share on Facebook Twitter
→ ARKITEKTUR
LWRNTZ (WORK IN PROGRESS) - MIKAEL OLSSON/JAN ERIK LUNDSTRöM
An excavation of Sigurd Lewerentz’ architectural remains.
First book out from Sweden's new architectural publisher Andersson Örn!
From the preface:
In this book, we are given a rare glimpse into Mikael Olsson’s ongoing work LWRNTZ: an artistic investigation of Sigurd Lewerentz’(1885–1975) architecture. Olsson’s finalized project will later on be published in a more extensive format, similar to his works ”Södrakull Frösakull” and ”on | auf” . Some of the photographs included here will possibly reappear, others may be reevaluated and disappear along the way. After all, this is a work in progress.
Lewerentz’ work spans over many decades and across a number of building types, styles, materials and techniques. This width is apparent in Olsson’s project, which could be labeled as an excavation of Lewerentz’ architectural remains, both known and unknown, wellpreserved and decayed.
This book is also a dialogue between the artist and photographer Mikael Olsson, and the curator and critic Jan-Erik Lundström – a dialogue, covering the photographic field, its actors, histories and theories, that began with a series of Zoom conversations between Olsson, Lundström and the editor of this book in 2021.
From Jan-Erik Lundström's essay:
The title LWRNTZ – which can be understood as a metonym, suggesting that here is a series of utterances which speak and express through proximity rather than similarity, hinted at by its omission of the vowels (three e) from Lewerentz’ name – illuminates and highlights a productive tension between referent (Lewerentz’ buildings) and figure (Olsson’s photographs), between motif and image, between the world of objects and things and – precisely – their metaphorical and metonymic representation. Indeed, the dimension of closeness is saturated and dense, both asymptotically and emphatically. The photographs live off, are nurtured by, and take place in the vicinity of these buildings, even if their primary aim is not necessarily to reproduce or represent them. The photos appreciate and honor the building’s independent status. It is a closeness that borders on merging, but that never crosses the line. Nearness but not parity or similarity.
SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
Share on Facebook Twitter
→ Konstig Bookstore
123456789101112131415