Nobel Week Lights is an annual public art exhibition by the Nobel Prize Museum where the participating artists link their work to the winners of the current year. 2021 we were commissioned a public installation at Sergels Torg in Stockholm. We chose to work with the Nobel Peace Prize which was awarded jointly to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Andreyevich Muratov "for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace".

In the work we invited visual artist Jenny Forsgren to participate. Together we created an installation centered around a video work on the theme of journalism in the digital age.

“(REACTION VIDEO)” is a video work where the artists filmed and abstracted their own reacting faces. In the physical design, they have taken hold of the chain of reactions and translated it into the form in which the video work is projected. The work is built up through the technique “Mise En Abyme” which in film and literature theory refers to inserting a story into a story. In effect, they visualize reactions of reactions and refer to the YouTube phenomenon “Reaction Videos”, where people film themselves while they react to different things – everything from terrible news to newly released music.”

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This work was a struggle in so many ways, it felt inadequate making this piece in parallel to the life threatening work of the journalists. I found myself asking why we do this. But I know you can’t compare the two and looking back at it I think it’s smart, and dark. Unfortunately I found this work even more relevant today considering the way we consume news and how it's more about reactions and emotions than fact.

Throughout the years we have had different constellations of collaboration within Swedish Girls and at Alcova Milano 2021 Mira and I exhibited as a duo. Alcova is "a platform for designers and companies investigating the future of living and making. Each year, during Salone del Mobile, Alcova brings together the people and institutions defining design culture today through ground-breaking work on living environments, products, systems, materials and technological innovation." The curators of Alcova found our project “Seats System” at APOC and invited us to participate. We showed the whole system irl for the first time and it was so cool to see people interact. Kids really loved them and that's funny since we initially designed it for the club. One of the first words we learned in italian was “comodo” which means comfortable;) guess its because they look really uncomfortable  

10 things that happened our first Alcova in no particular order but kind of:

1. Got so many friends<3333
2. Had a FaceTime-tour with James Taylor-Foster, Curator of ArkDes, and the rest is history
3. Was on the same energy level as Miguel Leiro, Curator of Mayrit Bienal, outside of Bar Basso, the rest is history there too
4. Found Caffè Degli Artisti instead of Bar Basso, times have now changed and we prefer other bars with plastic outdoor seating in the area but there’s a time and place for everything
5. Old men loves Swedish Girls also in Italy, although here it pays of financially
6. Mira flirted with the lesbian bartender for a week until it turned out she was straight and slightly homophobic
7. Was introduced to Carsten Höller and didn’t know who he was :/
8. They enjoy toast in Milan and so do we
9. They enjoy to smoke in Milan and so do we
10. Decided to move to Milan bc all of the above

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We had such an epic start as Swedish Girls; two public space installations commissioned by Stockholm Konst as part of their summer exhibition 2021. Sweden celebrated 100 years of women's right to vote and the theme of the exhibition was Democracy. All the participating artists were given sites in the city and we were assigned a square by the harbor on Kungsholmen,“Holger Bloms Plats”, and a street a few blocks away just outside the town hall, “Bergsgatan”.

We wanted the two works to be in dialogue with each other and gave them qualities to have in common, like interaction and production technique. The outcome was different ways to exist in public space – to be present and still give space to others.

The installation on Holger Bloms Plats was a stage where the public could interact and that could hold performances of other artists. We had already established a way of involving archetypes in our work. By doing that we have a way into our own and others preconceived notions of shapes, scenarios and interactions.

On Bergsgatan we made a Swedish Girls-ification of a traditional park bench. Since we had been navigating towards public space already in school it was very rewarding to get the opportunity to put concepts into action. It’s an environment where it makes sense to have the option of function in sculptural work because however hard you’re trying to exclude the public they will still interact, because ultimately it's their space.

"BOYS" is a female graffiti collective in Sweden and we invited them to tag our bench. Never felt so smart before, or since, the moment we realized it would say Swedish Girls and Boys all over the piece. A declaration of both of our practices' existence in public space.

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A professor called me up in 2020 and expressed concerns about our name.

“When I google Swedish Girls, there’s not art and design coming up… You have to change your name.”

Our brilliant friend and collaborator Kourosh Hekmatara built our website that we launched early 2021 to make sure Google is only about Swedish Girls.

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We had time for one group exhibition before the pandemic paralyzed the world. It was a formative time for us, we were in a vulnerable position and as under duress we reevaluated our practice. We used the time that suddenly spread out in front of us to develop the projects that mattered to us.

"Seats" developed into "Seats System", a modular furniture series that we produce independently and evolve by the day. Design is something that we live alongside and form can affect your mood, actions and being. This work is for public as well as private spaces. Sorry for the start up tech guy energy but the idea of this system is that it can be a framework for LIFE.

In 2020 we started selling it through APOC store, where we are still represented. This is where the curators of Alcova found us and invited us to exhibit in Milan 2021. This led to a chain of events that characterize the practice we have today. More on that later.
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Stay sexy