The exhibition space was transformed into a buzzing hub for curious talks and meetings, with the works of our talented students and graduates serving as catalysts for stimulating conversations. Post-human theories were discussed in relation to the evolving relationship between humans and technology, while materiality was explored in terms of the physicality and tactile nature of craft practices. Identity and memory were delved into as artists reflected on their personal narratives and cultural influences, and shifting power structures were examined in the context of craft as a means of challenging traditional hierarchies.
This event was made possible with the support of the Department of Craft! at Konstfack, University of Arts, Crafts and Design, Anders Ljungberg, Kulturrådet, and IASPIS. It was an engaging and enriching experience for all who participated, fostering a dynamic exchange of ideas and perspectives on contemporary craft practices and their broader cultural significance.
POSTHUMAN THEORIES
Helene Kask explores future possible bodily alterations through science and technology. Our desire for human enhancements and the manipulation of bodies is in the scope of her investigation. With a speculative mindset she creates possible futuristic scenarios exploring human existence and our identity. Through Posthuman theory she expands what bodies are, and can be. Helene holds a Bachelor Degree in fashion design from the Swedish School of Textiles, and has also pursued Bachelor studies at Konstfack, currently doing her first year of Master studies within Smycke & corpus. www.helenekask.com • @helenekask • info@helenekask.com
Beatrice Alvestad Lopez is a Norwegian visual artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. Her work moves between practices of performance, poetic cinematography and installation of crafted objects. She records her engagements with the landscape through sound, film and photography and set up immersive installations in various mediums of photo-printed textiles, wood, metal, clay and found residue. It is a context-based practice concerned with queer ecologies, hydro-feminism and rituals—all of which are themes that entangle post human thought. She holds a BA in Textile from Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan with an exchange at Pratt Institute, NY. An MFA in Craft from Könstfack, Stockholm. Alvestad Lopez has been awarded grants from Kulturrådet Norway, Helge Ax Jonson Stiftelse and Estrid Ericson Stiftelse. She currently has a solo show up “Mitt hår och alla regn växter” at BOY Konsthall. www.beatricealvestadlopez.com • @artsensibility • beatricelopezart@gmail.com
Nina Johansson’s practice is centered around altered states. She works mainly in silicone and her pieces blur the edges between jewelry, costume and sculpture. She has a keen interest in natural science and often uses it as a starting point when working with topics such as earthly kinship, posthumanism and deep ecology. Nina is currently doing her Master studies in craft at Konstfack University, Stockholm. @ninajohanssonstudio • ninajohanssonstudio@gmail.com
Jonathan Widegren is a collector of material knowledge, working in a broad range of techniques and using the making process as a form of philosophy, a meditation. My practice is a lens that I use to explore certain subjects, the end result is a byproduct of my investigations. New materials and techniques let me shift perspectives and for as long as I can remember I’ve been reshaping the material world, working with anything I can get my hands on — clay and stone, metal, wood and bone, digital 3d sculpture, and recently with artificial intelligence. The tool has a central and symbolic role in Jonathan’s practice, and he is currently investigating the growing field of artificial intelligence, both as a tool and on a philosophical level. AI is possibly a new entity with power-shifting implications for mankind. The tool is a part of the human, the two are inseparable, the same organism — and artificial intelligence is just our latest tool, thus in a way a new addition to what it means to be human. Jonathan Widegren is studying his last year of the bachelor’s program for Jewelry and Corpus. He is graduating in 2023. @lion_of_avalo
SHIFTING POWER STRUCTURES
Linea Matei gathers strength and inspiration from her family roots. Growing up in Södertälje with two sisters, a tornedalian mother from Kiruna and a father from Zărnești, Romania. The sculptures “Do you see me” presented at the Social Club, strike with emotion, while also comically mirroring ourselves. “Do you see me” reflects on being seen and to see others, while investigating what happens when bodies move between different rooms that obtain diverse norms, atmospheres and movements. Linea holds a master degree from Konstfack Textile, Craft and a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design from West London College. www.lineamatei.com • @lineamatei • Linea.matei@gmail.com
Bhumika Sethi identifies herself as a mixed media textile artist and designer. Her practice is majorly based on Cultural sustainability. She works in a cultural space addressing the cultural differences in a particular practice as we observe cultures in circulation. She aims to shift power structures by creating awareness on discrimination of artisan value based on their geographical location and origin. Bhumika holds a Bachelor degree in Fashion Design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, India(2018) and currently doing masters in Craft- textile at Konstfack University(2021-2023). @vierite_crafts • bhumika.sethi1910@gmail.com
Matilda Envall Key themes in Matilda’s practice are the power implications of taste and aesthetics’ power to determine, confuse and challenge gender. In her sculptural works, she is exploring the function of dress and adornment and the meaning of the term body. By shining a light on gendering from a new perspective, Matilda aims to shift power structures through her practice. Matilda Envall holds a Bachelor degree in fashion design from the Swedish School of Textiles (2018) and a Master degree in textile art from Konstfack University (2022). www.matildaenvall.com • @matildaenvallstudio • envallmatilda@gmail.com
Linda Nurk Growing her own textiles and urban micro-farming – Linda Nurk is rethinking the lifecycle of materials. Linda creates textiles from non-human bodies and imagines possible futures of ethical production. She is transforming natural elements into after-life craft, reforming ecosystems around symbiosis between source and wearer. Her ideal is a balanced flow between humans, vegetation, textile and living creatures. Her conceptualisation and experimentation connect to a wider context of socio-economic and ecological structural practice. “With poetic and abstract vision Linda creates a new landscape” Linda has a background in design and couture, she is currently at MA2 CRAFT! www.lindanurk.com • @lindanurk
Rosita Ståhl with “Shattered Image” is questioning the authority and relationship between the craftsmen, glassblowers and designer. Who are the makers behind a crafted piece? What information is visible to see next to a piece when it is presented for the public? Who are the front and background figures and why are they separate from eachother and not valued by going hand in hand all the way out to the presented state? Rosita aims to shift power structures through her installation work. Rosita holds a Bachelor degree in Craft and glass from KADK in Bornholm, DK and a Master degree in glass from Konstfack University 2023. www.rositastahl.com • @ros.itaglas
IDENTITY AND MEMORY
Berenice Hernández works with sculptures, video, photography and performance. In her work she focuses on the importance of spaces and the potential power they have over our society and the individual. Her latest installation “Phantom Limbs / Ghost Architecture” asks questions about identity, place and the role of structures as memory aids. It specifically deals with the aftermath of having moved from one culture to another, and how being surrounded by a new and foreign architectural world can interrupt one’s connection to the sense of self. Berenice holds a BFA in ceramics from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and a MFA in ceramics from Konstfack. www.hernandezberenice.com • @hernandez__b • berenicejanice@gmail.com
Hanna Havdell In her jewellery Hanna explores the subject of fragments, memory and collecting. About history and the present, mysticism and intimacy. Her work gives a sense of treasures from a forgotten time. The individual pieces convey the notion that they are fragments of a greater whole, part of a story or memory that we can sense but not quite reckon. Hanna Havdell holds a Bachelor degree in Jewellery Art from HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design (2018) and is currently undergoing a Master degree in Craft – Jewellery and Corpus at Konstfack. @hannahavdell • hanna.havdell@hotmail.com
Alma Winkler’s works of art explore questions about how we can perceive our context with new perspectives. Her work often revolves around questions of identity and where we position ourselves in relation to our surroundings by investigating which invisible social boundaries govern us. Through a variety of expressions and media, such as sculpture, installation, performance, text and sound, she explores the theme and illuminates the phenomenon. Alma Winkler holds both her MFA (2022) and her BFA (2013) in Arts and Craft from Konstfack University. www.almawinkler.com • @alma.winkler • alma.winkler@gmail.com
MATERIALITY
Míra Dávida is a Hungarian born glass artist based in Stockholm, currently finishing a masters degree at the Konstfack crafts department. In her practice, she aims to discover the many ways of creating and perceiving glass and art from a psychological perspective. Emotions, intuitions and the world of unconsciousness all play key parts in her research and the development of her objects. How is art capable of affecting us in a deeper sense? How do we perceive its value by letting it tell a story about us? Míra’s objects hold fragments of the reflection of the self, the corporeality of shapes and expressive yet classically inspired visual understanding. www.miradavida.com • @damzaamcrafts • da.miravida@gmail.com
Lizzie Abbott The concept of ‘The Monster’ has become a core influence of Lizzie’s practice. In her work, imagery of monsters and uncanniness, are combined with objects of wealth and value. She aims to generate questions around the parasitical nature of capitalistic desire; the ache for social belonging and the insidious effect of capitalism it invites on our actions, homes and bodies. Lizzie holds a Bachelors in Fine Art from Manchester School of Art, before going on to work with Jewellery and study a Masters in Craft at Konstfack University. www.lizzieabbott.co.uk • @efa_jewelz • efabbott95@gmail.com
Matilda Frid is showing a few parts and samples from her master project “Salty Corpus”. Using salt as a material and collaboration with other species as a method the project is an investigation in how we as humans relate to other animals and how aspects of time and change in materiality can be processed on an emotional level. Matilda Frid holds a bachelor degree from Ädellab, Konstfack (2014) and a master degree from CRAFT! Jewelry and Corpus, Konstfack (2022). She has been working and teaching within the field of jewelry and corpus since 2015. www.matildafrid.se • @matilda.frid • mail@matildafrid.se
Miriam Johannesson uses the archaic practices of jewellery and corpus to explore the interface of human knowledge – a play between taxonomy and magic beliefs. She believes these acts and makings reveal something of how the world is being used and interacted with, how humans make sense of it, and in the end – how meaning gets created. Miriam Johannesson holds a Master degree in Aesthetics from Södertörn university (2011) and is currently enrolled in the Master programme Craft! at Konstfack. www.miriamjohannesson.com • @miriamjohannesson • miriam.johannesson@gmail.com
Mariona Miquel Ros Tridimensionality and object-based formalization are of interest to Mariona, given that the material and volumetric is perceptible by all the senses and this facilitates the credibility and empathy of those who observe and/or consume it. Her objects often make sense when they are put in relation to the body. In order to materialize, she normally uses the tools and materials common to jewellery. Mariona has graduated with an Arts and Design Bachelor Degree at Escola Massana, Barcelona (2020) and is currently studying Jewelry MA program at Konstfack, Stockholm (2021-2023). www.marionamr.com • @marionamr • marionamiquelros@gmail.com
