Playa!

Participating artists: Dimen Hama Abdulla, Benedikte Bjerre, Alfred Boman, Elis Monteverde Burrau, Militza Monteverde Burrau, coyote, Hedda Hultman, Jenny Kalliokulju, Essi Kausalainen (with ensemble), Melanie Kitti, Ulrika Lublin, Marthe Ramm Fortun, Hilde Retzlaff, Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Sally von Rosen, Edit Sihlberg, Eetu Sihvonen.

The world is unraveling. Life, as always, has an end. Bonniers Konsthall’s major autumn exhibition Playa!, offers grace and hope at the end of time. Rhythm, hand, thought, association, words and poetry weave together the exhibition. Through painting, sculpture, installation and social situations, Playa! brings together a wide range of artists from different generations, based in Sweden and across the Nordic region.

Between the existential poles of mercy and hope, the exhibition explores the condition of art and humanity. Is there still hope? Is there beauty? A way forward—through the social sphere? In the microbiology of friendship? In aesthetic perception, or political association? A shared clarity and a concentrated force run through the works—poised between spell and scrutiny.

“In relation to contemporary art at the twilight of late capitalism, one might say that poetry has been allowed to develop more independently, under its own authority. Could it be because poetry resists commodification—because it doesn’t easily bend to market logic? That neoliberal systems, even in these end times, still haven’t fully laid claim to it? Poetry has remained a narrow thing—largely untouched by institutions, higher education, checklists, purposes, or middlemen. Might that be one reason why it is once again stepping forward as something vital and important?” —Under the cobblestones, Playa!, Joanna Nordin, Artistic Director and the exhibition´s curator. Read the full text here.

With support from Nordic Cultural Fund.

“Nothing beats when body parts fall asleep. It’s better than heroin. You can hit sleeping limbs, you are allowed to, violence is gentle, but nobody does that. Only I can destroy myself. What did you just say? I’m trying to remember what we talked about. I’m trying to remember what it was about. I’m trying to remember what you said. Like, I’ll jump first? Where are you going to jump, my little bitty flea? To the rabbit hole. Favorite topic of conversation. The black rabbit hole. The beach is down there, the stars are glittering in there. It’s an anti-holistic manifesto. The stars are stuffed. I didn’t start it! We don’t really need to talk to each other. It’s a miracle. The rabbit hole is the eye of a needle. The stars are not buried alive, the stars are dead and there is an opening. I think everything will break. Maybe it will be beautiful, but it can only be beautiful if everything breaks. What did you say? My last wish was a sigh. Did you say that? No. You screamed. That’s how you wrote. Blessing is an okay name for an illusion. Everybody wins at walkover. Codependency is the most beautiful thing in the world. The body is not more than the sum of its parts. It’s the other way around. Let’s flaunt it. Language as a new language, a destroyed mathematics. What are you waiting for? I’ll come later.” —Elis Monteverde Burrau (b. 1992) is a poet whose practice is in constant flux between visual art, performace, theater (acting), video and music.