In the 2023 exhibition The Art in the Corridors of Power on Skeppsholmen in Stockholm, the Public Art Agency Sweden showed a selection of works to be installed in the Swedish Government Offices. Here you can see some of the works that were included in the exhibition, find out which artists were represented and read about the ideas behind The Art in the Corridors of Power.
The exhibition was curated by the Public Art Agency’s art consultants Magnus Mattsson and Hanna Stahle. Below is their curatorial description of the exhibition:
The Swedish Government Offices tasked the Public Art Agency, Nationalmuseum and Moderna Museet with working together to develop a comprehensive whole. Historical art meets contemporary works, creating a diversity in harmony that activates the content. A common theme in the artworks in this project is man-nature-culture, where nature is particularly apt in representing Sweden in general, while at the same time the complexity of the art problematises the impact man has had as the custodian of this planet. It is exciting how this art, which will hardly ever be shown to the public, will be placed right in the centre of democracy – in an environment where our politicians and civil servants operate and receive their visitors.
In the studio of the Public Art Agency on Skeppsholmen, a selection of the approximately 140 works that were contributed this time was presented. The works span different periods and practices, including recent new purchases such as Emm Berring and Roland Persson but also older works from the collection such as Atti Johansson and Lenke Rothman. An art collection is always tailored to the intended environment, we often see it as a hand of solitaire that can be solved in different ways. Assembled in this meeting space, new relationships and wholes emerge.
Every year the Public Art Agency produces some 100 art collections for the country’s authorities. It can be anything from Jönköping University, the Prison Services in Haparanda or the Embassy in Athens. Often when the proposed art is juxtaposed with the authority’s mission, it opens itself up to new interpretations. The art consultants who assemble the art collections, need to pay attention to factors such as the architecture, as well as the nature of the work performed and specific needs of the receiving authority. It is also part of the job to constantly challenge our authorities culturally with the autonomous and dynamic power of art.
A Conversation about the collection The Art in the Corridors of Power with art consultants Hanna Stahle and Magnus Mattson. Photo: Ricard Estay
Medverkande konstnärer
The selection of work presented digitally is based on the availability of images. The following is the full list of participating artists:
Dejan Antonijevic
Lluc Baños Aixalà
Emm Berring
Ellen Ehk Åkesson
Marie-Louise Ekman
Henrik Eriksson
Mark Frygell
Oscar Furbacken
Atti Johansson
Peter Johansson
Jone Kvie
Barro Levén
Jonas Liveröd
Marjolaine Lombard
Haidar Mahdi
Kristoffer Nilson
Karin Ohlin
Anneè Olofsson
Roland Persson
Lenke Rothman
Anna Tegeström Wolgers
Paola Torres Núñez del Prado
Johan Thurfjell
Snežana Vučetić Bohm
Michael West