BOARDING THE ICEBREAKER ODEN FOR A 6-WEEK EXPEDITION
My next adventure: a research expedition, for real! On May 8, 2023 I board the icebreaker Oden in Longyearbyen/Svalbard together with 40 researchers. Since man began traveling to the polar regions, artists have been part of expeditions. The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat has continued this tradition and since 1988 artists have been offered a place on research expeditions. Now I get to participate in the next polar adventure and I hope that Jonas Falck will join us. Interview at the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat website. (Photo: Ida Rödén and Polarforskningssekretariatet)
Time and again we venture into patches of darkness, encouraged by curiosity and openness. Sometimes the unexpected unfold and a new world is revealed. For me, the unraveling event was the discovery of a curious stone by lake Kultsjön. The stone later uncovered of the hitherto unknown Jonas Falck, a self-taught scientist from Västernorrland.
In Jonas Falcks vetenskapliga iakttagelser, I’ve collected thoughts and experiences that arose in the company of Jonas Falck, active during the late 18th century. Guided by detailed drawings of mutated animals at Kultsjön, extinct water creatures from Fårö, and peculiar mushrooms discovered around Norra Kvarken, a world of possibilities is made visible. But truth is elusive. Sometimes imagination and hope take over and any answer to the question of who Jonas Falck was is anything but fully formulated.
Jonas Falck’s studies of mutated animals at Kultsjön and extinct water creatures on Fårö will be exhibited at the Hagströmer Library in Stockholm, 10 October – 18 November 2022.
The Hagströmer Medico-Historical Library is a treasure, here are more than 100 000 rare and important books, the majority printed before 1860. Many of the works in the Hagströmer Library collections had an epoch-making significance in the history of medicine and science. In the exhibition my scientist Jonas Falck gets to converse with Linnaeus, his disciples, as well as other exciting characters, including those who took an interest in monsters.
I am one of 13 artists participating in the Triennial at Västernorrlands museum in Härnösand. Opens on May 21st at 1.30 PM. The exhibition runs until September 4th. I have installed some of Jonas Falck’s studies of winged animals – insects and birds. The theme of the Triennial is wind.
Public commission at a kindergarten in Skellefteå. A permanent wall piece with painted and drawn mutated animals on aluminum, mounted on trees and a rock drawn on the wall. These are some of the discoveries of Jonas Falck – a scientist who is said to have lived during the late 18th century around the lake Kultsjön. According to Falck, animals began to mutate after a meteorite impact. The cuckoo, the weasel, the ladybug, the butterfly, and the badger have found their places.
“(DET FÖRSVUNNA FINNS ÖVERALLT (LETAREN ÄR SEDAN LÄNGE VILSE)”
Maybe it’s about paying attention to that which is around us, as well as inside of us. About being captivated by the little things – looking for life in mushrooms, bones, and stones. The seeker is central. He or she walks in the forest and along rocky water edges, in some cases completely alone, but often in the company of a black dog or a fictional fellow traveler. Is it possible to imagine another way of seeing? Are there any other eyes that suddenly reveal completely new worlds, or ears that hear something else? In the seeker’s consciousness, we begin to grasp what could have been in a world that is incomprehensible, sometimes even undiscovered. The exhibition runs between October 16-31, 2021
A sculpture by Caldeborg in front of stone drawings by Rödén, at Ahlbergshallen, Östersund (SE).
The wrapping of Vita Kuben inside Norrlandsoperan in Umeå: here are some of the discoveries of Jonas Falck – a scientist who is said to have lived during the late 18th century. On the side: discoveries from Kultsjön 1774. According to JF, animals began to mutate after a meteorite impact. These are studies of local fauna in varying degrees of mutation. The white-backed woodpecker, the yellow snipe fie and the great yellow bumblebee are all endangered. The animals on the ceiling are extinct sea creatures, based on fossilized findings on Fårö 1776: Birgus formosus (Transparent nässelkrabba) and Calyptratus regalis (Griplarv). The cube will stay wrapped between September 3 – October 22, 2021.
STENARNA OCH DJUREN – JONAS FALCK’S DISCOVERIES, NORDINGRÅ
Truth is an elusive concept. Details are contradictory. Everything is changeable. All definitive answers extend beyond the horizon and remain inaccessible. Sometimes imagination takes over. Keeping the dream alive is a way of surviving. This summer I have traveled to the High Cost of Sweden and installed my work at Mannaminne. My discoveries, created in the company of Jonas Falck, meets the craftmanship and imagination of the artist Anders Åberg. The exhibition “Stenarna och djuren – Jonas Falcks återskapade iakttagelser” runs between June 5th and August 31, 2021.
MORE DISCOVERIES ALONGSIDE JONAS FALCK. EXHIBITION IN FALUN.
Jonas Falck and a world of mutated animals and extinct water creatures will inhabit Galleri Hörnan in Falun between April 22 – May 31, 2021. Make sure to pay a visit to the crucian carp and Hebrew character!
In a thematic issue on nostalgia, I have written about my work with Jonas Falck – for the magazine Hjärnstorm #140-141. “I verkligheten är, som vi alla vet, allting föränderligt. Avvikelserna är många. Alla definitiva svar, alla tydligheter, sträcker sig bortom horisonten och förblir onåbara. Ibland tar fantasin överhand.”
