To enter the Space Craft, I took the tunnelbana from the green line to the blue line and arrived at Kista

Admin
Nov 13
3 min read

To enter the Space Craft, I took the tunnelbana from the green line to the blue line and arrived at Kista. I passed through a new and eye-catching galleria filled with all the Swedish chains for food, media, gifts, and supermarkets, as well as some exotic restaurants offering Middle Eastern treats and staples. I couldn't resist picking up five pieces of Baklava and a thin plastic bag full of Persian cucumbers, which are hard to find in central Stockholm.

Upon exiting to the east, I transferred directly to the Kista Science Tower. Inside, I found a tall and sleek lobby with modern furniture, grey marble floors, large potted plants, white walls, and a trendy Japanese cafeteria. In the front left corner was "Takeoff," the first exhibition in a series of craft-oriented exhibits curated at nomadic industrial spaces in the Stockholm rural area by the wonderful Anne Klonz.

Klontz has been the annual exhibition curator at Konstfack since 2015 and has established herself as an art book editor and an independent curator with a focus on craft. In Sweden, the field of craft is highly developed, far removed from the stereotype of activities like color-by-numbers or macramé, which are often associated with those in early retirement.

At Konsfack, the Craft department is where the cool kids go to create wild, experimental, innovative artworks using mean machines on industrial and pristine materials, producing extraordinary, unseen-before shapes.

It's where abstract formalism goes to live!

Take off is really delivering on that; it draws you in at first glance with a series by Petter Rhodiner - Cube, Length 1, and Path. The perfect round diagonal lines of glossy mint-green glazed stoneware are in contrast to messy silicone gray/black/terra cotta colored seams, which are like icing on a cake, on shapes that are giving everything from balloon animals to the human digestive system, and at the same time creating the feel of a cutting-edge medical showcase.

Chorus of One by Anna Mlasowsky, presented on a big screen in a performance/sound piece/sculpture, features the artist wearing all white scales of rhino glass, a special, developed material for the military —a glass that does not break. The armor-like wearable sculpture moves like a fashion piece by visionaries like Hussein Chalayan.

Signal@Forest by Paola Torres Núñez del Prado presents hung textile - that is a replica of a South American traditional textile- hanging on a branch and as if flying in the wind, the pattern of vibrant colors distorted, disruptive, glitches like in a computer error- on a closer look, it is a Trompe-l'œil - painted on to trick us- or was it already a trick?

Josefin Tingvall presents- Bergrum- produced while being an artist in residency in Denmark, an installation in three frames - two small screens of a video in two channels, and in between is a tapestry inspired by hidden rooms in the forest from her childhood memories. The rendered computer-generated image and the woven image create this kind of stillness, connecting the far future to the unknown past as it comments on the relics of war as a constant source of fear for safety and of war, and perhaps problematic use of technology, creating an unreal sense of combat.

Glass and metal pieces by Lisa Hartwig Ericson are large hooks and goo-like mutation of smelting substance is everything between decadence and cruelty, femininity/masculinity- the abstract images evoke thoughts about death hunting, and fishing, but also IVF labs, so creation of life.

The exhibition combines traditional craftsmanship with contemporary techniques to explore themes of violence, vulnerability, and protection through an aesthetic that is both ancient and futuristic. The artist lineup features four female artists and one male artist, which not only nods to a desired feminist future but also playfully serves as a reminder that gender balance can shift.

Takeoff 2025 is open to the public from

6 November - 5 December

Wednesday- Friday from 12:00 to 5:00 pm.

The exhibition is at the entrance inside Kista Science Tower,

Färögatan 33, 164 51 Kista.