Lovisa Ringborg, Nesting, 2017, C-print, silicone mounted on plexi,  53 x 182 cm.

Act I: 3.6–23.10.2022

Act II: 11.11.2022–30.4.2023

The Nested Realities Act I exhibition showcases 17 artists who in their various ways reveal surrealist undertones in their works.

Read about the works

Like the early 1920s surrealists, here, too, mysticism, absurdism, irrationality and metamorphosis serve as key words, likewise a quest for the myth of our time. Several of the works in the exhibition emphasize the dream state and mirrorings, artworks like hidden doors to the subconscious where we seek contact with humankind’s true nature on the borderland between sleep and wakefulness. Dreams open us up to seeing and experiencing our surroundings and our own bodies in a different way. Many of the artworks in the exhibition also deal with so-called nested realities, that is, the experience of simultaneously occupying another reality: a kind of superreality. Digital communication not only gives us a shared platform for information, it extends our whole sense of being in a shared virtual sphere, a supersurrealistic stream of images that we encounter constantly in our everyday lives.

The exhibition is divided into two acts, with time and space turned upside down: the first, in the light of early summer, will show darkness and existentialism, while the second, starting in November, will have less weighty, more playful tones. Prominence will be given to newly produced works, but also to works from Pro Artibus’ own collection, along with museum loans and loans from private collections. Andy Best & Merja Puustinen’s site-specific outdoor sculpture stretches over the entire exterior of the gallery building, while Anna Estarriola’s and Markus Kåhre’s new works conduct their own production dialogues in the first and second acts. Likewise, Maija Albrecht’s installation with graphic art and assemblages are changing according to the different themes in the two acts.

Camilla Granbacka
Curator