Iaspis was founded in 1996 as the Swedish Visual Arts Fund’s international programme commissioned to support international exchange for practitioners in the areas of visual art, design, craft and architecture.

Iaspis’ activities aim to enable practitioners based in Sweden to develop artistically and improve their working conditions by establishing international contacts between artists and institutions, professionals such as curators and critics and others active in the field. Iaspis has played a vital role in the internationalisation of Swedish art by awarding grants for international exchange and by initiating and accomplishing international networking processes between artists, writers and curators.

The project Craft in Dialogue, initiated in 2003, was the starting-point for a more focused development of the endeavour to internationalise the field of applied arts, that is, design, craft and architecture.

Iaspis organizes events in various venues; the project space in Stockholm is located in the same building as the 9 studios and is used on a regular basis for screenings, seminars, lectures and exhibitions. Iaspis organizes events in various venues; the project space in Stockholm is located in the same building as the 9 studios and is used on a regular basis for screenings, seminars, lectures and exhibitions.

Iaspis’ studios in Sweden: Iaspis has twelve studios in Sweden, nine of which are located in Stockholm, and three courtesy of Iaspis’ collaborative partners in Gothenburg, Malmö and Umeå. Studio residences for Swedish artists are allocated as grants. Two of the studios are reserved for artists who have recently graduated from a Swedish art academy. International artists are invited by Iaspis. In the areas of design, crafts and architecture, various models of residencies will be tested in the next few years. Swedish practitioners will be offered the opportunity to work abroad for a period of time, and international designers, architects and crafts persons will be offered residencies in Sweden.

Iaspis’ studios abroad: Iaspis has eight studios abroad for Swedish artists. Grant recipients are offered the use of a studio, a furnished apartment and a grant to cover costs for subsistence during their residency. Presently, Swedish artists can apply for a studio residency in Berlin, Istanbul, Kairo, London, New York, Sâo Paolo/Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo AiT and Tokyo Wondersite.

Iaspis in Stockholm: The Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s premises in Stockholm is the hub of Iaspis’ activities of liaising with grant recipients in Sweden, invited international guests, interested colleagues and the public. This is the work place for Iaspis’ staff, which consists of the director, two project managers, two coordinators and an assistant. Maria Skolgata is also home to Iaspis’ archive where visitors may obtain information on Swedish contemporary art and previous Iaspis grant recipients.

Most outstanding projects in recent years:

“Design Act”; an experimental project exploring methods of identifying, presenting and discussing examples of design and architectural practice. It operates through an international network of contributors, an emerging rhizomic online archive and a series of public events. It aims to develop a platform for interdisciplinary discussion and exchange of knowledge and experience. The Reader comprised an exhibition, an international seminar and now a publication The Reader, on investigative, speculative and critically oriented design. Participants: Åbäke, HC Ericson, Practise, Europa, Experimental Jetset, Metahaven, Dexter Sinister, Ramia Mazé, Zak Kyes and Mark Owens etc. Editors: Magnus Ericson, Zak Kyes, Martin Frostner, Sara Teleman och Jonas Williamsson.(Published by Iaspis and Sternberg Press 2009). A second anthology forthcoming 2011.

“Voice Over”; an ongoing project examining staging, theatricality and performative strategies in contemporary art practices. Publication 2009 by Sternberg press with artist contributors: Miriam Bäckström, Goldin+Senneby, Saskia Holmkvist, Fia-Stina Sandlund and Geist magazine. Essays by Anselm Franke and Cecilia Widenheim.

“WORK, WORK, WORK–Seminars on art and labour”, November–December, 2010: This seminar series in three parts discussed the image of work, the worker and the workplace in relation to diverse strategies within contemporary art. Participants included: Annika Eriksson, Kirsten Forkert, Ingela Johansson, Stefan Jonsson, Maria Lind, Sarat Maharaj, Pratchaya Phintong, Joanna Sokolowska, Nina Svensson, Kajsa Dahlberg, Kim Einarsson, Mattìn, Lisa Rosendahl, Fredrik Svensk, Alexei Penzin, Lars Bang Larsen, Franco Berardi, Ana Betancour, Catharina Gabrielsson, Helena Mattsson, Raqs Media Collective, Nina Power and Judith Revel among others. Curated by Michele Masucci (artist), Cecilia Widenheim and Jonatan Habib Engqvist.

Iaspis has a public programme of lectures, seminars and exhibitions both in Sweden and abroad. The public activities are an essential part of Iaspis’ work of disseminating information internationally about Swedish art, design, architecture and craft, as well as discussing topical issues in contemporary theory and practice. The programming is organic and always engages in the artist´s point of view.

Public programming is organic and often created together with current artists-in-residence, such as the workshop with Mary Kelly, and Dont Rhine, Andrea Geyer, Sharon Hayes, and Jane Jin Kaisen. The seminar series WORK, WORK, WORK is another example Iaspis’ programming activities. This project is co-curated with artist Michele Masucci, a former resident, and evolved from the idea of studio-talks.

Twice a year, Iaspis invites a guest producer to organize an open studio event with residents. Residents from the past 6 months are invited to participate and a publication is often produced. In addition, Iaspis seeks to initiate and support collaborations between Swedish and international visual artists and designers both in Sweden and abroad.

Each year Iaspis arranges a number of visits by international and Swedish curators and critics to facilitate international networking and domestic collaborations. The aim is to establish a platform for meetings between practitioners in the Swedish art world and Iaspis’ international artists and other guests.

Iaspis publications are also formed from an organic structure. They can vary from presentations of one artist’s work in regard to a specific context, to compilations based on seminars or other discursive activities. One such example might be the “Voice Over” project presented at the last Venice biennale. A forthcoming publication includes Design Act, the second anthology of Iaspis’ survey of critical design.