2024-08-21
Party & protest
EXHIBITION. 21 augusti-
The library is showing a selection of photographs from Konstfack's history. The theme for this selection is "Party & Protest". The focus is on students outside of the education context, during recreation, party and political protest. Teachers and students from teacher education department were engaged in reforming the teacher education. The image above is a section of a 1973 photograph taken by Per L-B Nilsson during a demonstration in central Stockholm.
The photographs shown here were gathered in conjunction with Konstfack's 150 year celebrations in 1994, and were exhibited in 1997 in the exhibition Konstfack i bild.
2024-08-21
Plant Ornaments
EXHIBITION. 21 augusti 2024-
The library is showing examples of collections of Art Nouveau colour plates showing plant ornaments. There are many collections of colour plates in the library's collections. They can be requested for study. Just ask the library staff if you are curious!
2024-05-14
Pidgeon Digital
TRIAL PERIOD. 14 May - 12 July 2024.
Pidgeon Digital is a resource that gathers digital talks on architecture. It was created by Monica Pidgeon, who for many years was the editor of the journal Architectural Design (found in the library). The talks are by some of the world's most well known designers and architects. At the moment, Konstfack has a trial period of Pidgeon Digital lasting into July. Take the opportunity to sample the contents of this unique resource before the trial period ends, and don't forget to send any feedback to the library! Is this a valuable resource for the future?
Pidgeon Digital (lnk)
2024-05-07
Róisín O’Connor - A Nest Within
EXHIBITION. 7-12 May.
“Intelligence is no longer ours alone but is a property of the earth; we are in it, of it, immersed in its depths. And indeed each terrain, each ecology, seems to have its own particular intelligence, its unique vernacular of soil and leaf and sky”. - The Spell of the Sensuous, David Abrams
With these works the binary of interiority and exteriority is presented. But what I am learning is how to represent the invisible subterranean action of the forms I once considered complete. I am interested in what can be seen with the naked eye when revealed yet obscured by a substrate or layer. It is a sadness that the force that created the ceramic hive or cocoon has become invisible. I was there, I promise - like a bird who made their precarious nest. The network of scratches and gouges are hidden, and I am not always comforted by this, yet does the working made visible destroy the wonder? Does physically seeing the thread-like hyphae of mycelium, diminish the awe of entangled life that I had once imagined to be like star constellations illuminated in the soil. These works are a material metaphor, and yes, an abstraction of nature, but simultaneously they are vessels hosting the intangible embryonic forces of nature.
This is a “work-in-progress” display that presents emerging ideas during the residency funded by the Anglo-Swedish society in collaboration with the Royal College of Art, 2024.
2024-04-23
Text + musik
BOOK EXHIBITION. Music lyrics, musicians who write poetry, authors who collaborate with musicians, and some visual artists who work with music and text. A book exhibition with descriptive texts by the library staff.
2024-04-23
in the making: the crack that lets the light shine in
EXHIBITION. “in the making: the crack that lets the light shine” is an exhibition and a celebration of a publication with the same title. This publication marks discussion, investigation, and making, done individually as well as collectively by this year’s Research Lab students from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and knowledge. Encompassing a wide range of material and subjects, their practices dance in/around crafts as artistic practice-based research.
Participants: Anne-Marie Dehon, Bogil Lee, Daniel Ramos Obregón, Davide Ronco, Erik Lindeborg, Henny Linn Kjellberg
2024-04-04
Official Timeline - Martina Lundkvist
EXHIBITION. The phrase Official Timeline is borrowed from the video game world and means one canonical chronology in which to understand the storyline of a long going franchise consisting of many games, often released without chronological order in mind. Many times the official timeline is therefore a retroactive construction. This whish for a neatly organized system is found within almost every field of research, not least when it comes to human history writing. But there is something about the human nature that is not possible to fit in one official timeline.
2024-03-26
Images from the first Konstfack
EXHIBITION. The library displays another batch of images collected in conjunction with Konstfack's 150th birthday in 1994. The photographs were originally exhibited in 1997 in an exhibition called Konstfack i bild (Konstfack in images). This selection of photographs shows students at work in various studios. The majority of the photographs were taken during the 1950's.
2024-03-25
Untouchable Land - Liu Xing
EXHIBITION. "Untouchable Land" is an ongoing project that delves into a personal fascination with space and time, asking the question "where do I belong".
The journey commences with the self-portrait "Meteorite," a symbolic representation of self-discovery. Inspired by the Chinese interpretation of my name, Liu Xing, meaning "shooting star" or "meteorite," Meteorite serie reflects a profound journey of self-identifying. This exploration is intertwined with my experiences of emigration, leading to a deep sense of double consciousness and identity complexities.
As an extension of this exploration, the exhibition showcases a collection of ink paintings portraying imaginative interpretations of enigmatic and untouchable places. Through these paintings, I reflect on the mysteries of existence and the limitations of perception. Moreover, my experimentation with ceramic planets further expands upon these themes, encouraging deeper contemplation of existence. Together, "Untouchable Land" explains a multifaceted my exploration of identity, belonging, and the profound mysteries of space and time. - Liu Xing
2024-03-21
Inbetween Distance & Closeness
EXHIBITION. Students from the Department of Fine Art exhibit in the library and in the gallery Pölen. Featured artists: Charlie Vince Jakobsson, Leo Jittaksa, Johanna Teodora Kim, Constance Michnik, Daiane Rafaela, Olle Witt.
2024-03-01
Artists' Writings
BOOK EXHIBITION. Florence Wild is an artist and also a staff member at the library. She has curated a collection of books showcasing artists who write.
Artists write. They write poems, diaries, novels, reviews, criticism, lists, manifestos, work titles, notes, essays, journals, scripts, performances, scores, zines; they write for themselves and for others, about their own work, about other artists work, and as a part of their own practices.
The books on artists’ writings exhibited here have been chosen from the Konstfack Library Artists’ Writings subject heading. If you search a subject heading in the Konstfack Library catalogue you will find all the books that have been indexed with that subject.
An artist myself, many of the titles here are books I have borrowed from the library, that I have read and that have inspired and informed my own writing and artistic practice. All the books are available for loan. Be sure to search the subject heading Artists’ writings in the library catalogue to explore the full list of over 150 titles.
- Florence Wild
2024-02-28
Ceramic Vessels
EXHIBITION. Students from IBIS, Konstfack's teacher education programme, show the results from their first design course.
2023-01-16
Books from 2023
BOOK EXHIBITION. We have gathered all the books in the library that were published during 2023, at least the ones currently available, and now we are displaying them on a shelf in the library. You will find the exhibition on the wall by the staff room, right by Interior architecture. The books can be checked out even though they are on display. The library staff have also made book recommendations from the past year. You will find them by the library entrance. The books are available for loan!
2024-01-15
Images from the first Konstfack
EXHIBITION. The library displays images collected in conjunction with Konstfack's 150th birthday in 1994. The photographs were exhibited in 1997 in an exhibition called Konstfack i bild (Konstfack in images). The library now shows a small selection of these images. These are the oldest photographs in the collection, and are all taken at the time when the school was placed at Mäster Samuelsgatan, near Hötorget. The building was the first specifically built to house the school.
2024-01-11
"Kolla vad jag gjort i slöjden!"
EXHIBITION. A selection of works from IBIS sloyd students, produced during their first semester. In the sloyd teacher education programme at Konstfack we work with both soft and hard materials: textiles, wood and metals - and often in combination!
The exhibition is shown 11 - 26 January in the large library window.
2023-12-08
The Letter Form — An Introduction to Typeface Design
Graphic design & Illustration, K2
EXHIBITION. This course introduces the students to the drawing of letterforms and type design. We outline the ways a typeface can take shape, from a sketch to a digital translation in the software Glyphs. During the first week we study the construction of letters and their proportions and learn how to build an alphabet bit by bit, beginning with the lower-case letter ‘n’. The students construct the alphabet using geometric shapes and practise various methods of sketching, by hand and using digital tools. The end result is the project shown in this exhibition. The second week of the course began with a workshop in Variable Type with former Konstfack student Lars Høie who now lives and works in Oslo. The remainder of the course was spent finishing the typefaces as far as the timeframe allowed.
Featured students: Alice Göransson, Amanda Hoy, Cecilia Vårhed, Charlie Ljunggren, Elsa Sjökvist, Johanna Bergkvist, Julius Lindahl, Katja Reimers, Lina Alarabi, Lisa Samuelsson, Maja Godek, Mathilda Orczykowska, Mikaela Wei, Nora Barrios
Teacher: Jens Schildt
2023-10-27
Weaving
EXHIBITION. Textile Bachelor students show results from a six week workshop course in weaving, inspired by Kina Slott, The Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm.
2023-10-17
Textile sculpture
EXHIBITION. Students from the The Department of Visual Arts and Sloyd Education exhibit sculptures from a course in textile construction. One of the tasks in the course is to create An unfamiliar bird.
1. A bird is formed in clay. 2. A paper pattern is constructed, and the textile bird is sewn together.
Beside constructing the pattern, the task is to convey a cultural expression in the bird. Where does it come from?
The images represent a small selection of the birds in the exhibition.
2023-03-27
The library of reflecting artifacts
EXHIBITION. What items are showcased in our bookshelves and what stories do they tell?
Welcome to this little bookshelf. Here you can find different artefacts that you may have in your own library. Feel free to flip through these books and share something yourself. The books are hand bound and the bookshelf is made in papier mâché. This is an installation from the exhibition Our House. Our House presents work from the GFI second year course Rumsligt with Catherine Anyango Grünewald. Each student was assigned a room in the house and tasked to present their research into this space as a spatial experience.
Moa Edvinsson, second year bachelor at GFI
You can find me and my work at moaedvinsson.com or @moaedvin on Instagram
2023-03-02
Activism, artivism, craftivism and feminism
BOOK EXHIBITION. An exhibition showing 73 books that deal with activism, political engagement and feminism within the arts. The books are still available for loan during the exhibition period!
2023-02-20
SOILU / Annika Toijanen
EXHIBITION. SOILU is an old Finnish word that means Northern Lights and is used to help describe waters movement on a lake surface. It is also the name of a small forrest lake in northern Finland where my grandmother was born, grew up and where my family still owns land to this day.
This small version of SOILU is built out of 700 strips of white copy paper, shaped and mounted into a pine frame. In all of my organic paper shapes I aim to build volume and strength out of flat and seemingly fragile material. Lights and shadows creates movement and life to them, which is experienced differently depending on where they are places and from which angle you look at them.
My paper art is a way for me to research my Finnish heritage - a heritage from a country I´ve never lived in, with a language I only partly speak, but that holds my whole family history. I´m seeking to find a larger picture by working in a methodic and repititive way, combining many small shapes to build something larger. You could say that I´m building and recovering my family history, piece by piece...
Read more here (Annika Toijanen's website)
2023-03-15
Book release: Det konstnärliga språket by Gert Z Nordström
Book release for Gert Z Nordström's latest book Det konstnärliga språket is held in Konstfack's library 15 March, 2.30 p.m. No pre-registration necessary!
Gert Z Nordström became the first professor of Art education in Sweden and was for many years the Head of the department for Teacher Education at Konstfack, as well as being Assistant principal for Konstfack. He received an honorary doctorate from Gothenburg University in 2012 and is the author of a large number of titles in the shelves of the library at Konstfack.
2023-01-30
Quiet Room: the Archive
EXHIBITION.
What happened to the quiet room?
A reflection on rest.
Come join us in the library.
Exhibition by Fine Art master's students D. Martins Lerias and Jonathan Anstett.
Read more here (external website)
2023-01-23
Posters by PhD students
EXHIBITION. During Konstfack's Research Week, the library exhibits posters by some of of the PhD students at Konstfack.
2023-01-09
Stool [not really] by the book
EXHIBITION. A liberating creation of a stool that goes against most intuition for an industrial designer. Instead of aligning and compromising design decisions with scalable industrial production purposes, the story of creation of this stool is imprinted with each imperfection. Form desicions emerged during the process of creation. Starting point was an unstable stool made from 1mm steel sheet. With hammer beats and rough welds the stool got its function and unique form. Explorations like this provide valuable insights to identifiy criteria for decentralized and local production qualities that could eventually counter mass productions.
Do we really want to scale up as much and fast as possible?
Fabian Hardt, Master student, Design Ecologies, year 1
13 DECEMBER 2022
Slöjdens huvudverk
EXHIBITION. The year 2 Teacher Education students aimed at teaching at secondary school level, complete two courses during the autumn semester, Slöjdens material och redskap (= The Materials and Tools of Sloyd), and Slöjdens hantverk och formgivning (= The Craft and Design of Sloyd). The exhibition shows a selection of items priduced during these courses.
28 NOVEMBER 2022
Illustrations by Tania Goryushina
EXHIBITION. Children's books and illustrations by Ukrainian artist and illustrator Tania Goryushina. Four of the books have been recommended by the Swedish Arts Council (Kulturrådet). The books are available for purchase during the exhibition. Proceeds go to a charity supporting Ukrainian refugee children. The exhibition lasts between 28 November and 6 December 2022.
23 NOVEMBER 2022
Book presentations
Some of the Konstfack teachers who were published in book form in the years between 2020 and 2022 gather to present their books in front of an audience.
- Martín Ávila: Designing for Interdependence : A Poetics of Relating
- Tina Carlsson: jag vet hur folkhemmet luktar
- Simon Ceder: Sexualitet och relationer : att möta ett engagerande och föränderligt kunskapsområde i skolan
- Michell Zethson: kokoligrafin
- Magnus Bärtås: Orienterarsjukan och andra berättelser
14 - 27 NOVEMBER 2022
Uncomfortable
EXHIBITION. Maja Björk is showing uncomfortable textile sculptures and comic zines dealing with all the anxiety, jealousy, heartbreak and failures you can dream of. Indulge yourself in feelings you wish you didn’t have. Enjoy the less pleasant side of life!
26 OCTOBER - 14 NOVEMBER 2022
Åsa Pärson
EXHIBITION. Exhibition around three books by Åsa Pärson: Fabricate - Composition and Texture (2017), Konsten att väva - en handbok (with Amica Sundström, 2021), Yoroke (2021). The books are also available for loan in the library!
21 OCTOBER 2022
Textile sculpture
EXHIBITION. In the course Textila konstruktioner, year three students in Visual Arts and Sloyd work with clothes, form and identity, and different ways to create and shape woven fabric. The course starts off with instructions and exercises in shaping flat fabrics to tree dimensional shapes.
The exhibit in the library window contains examples from the following assignment:
An unfamiliar bird in textile costume
- A bird is shaped in clay
- The clay figure is clothed in paper and adhesive tape. The clothing is cut with a blade into flat shapes.
- The pieces are cut in fabric and sewn together in the shape of the bird.
The assignment is to convey a cultural expression in the bird. Where does it come from, and how can that be shown? This is a central goal in the sloyd curriculum in the compulsory school in Sweden.
12-16 SEPTEMBER 2022
Books given away
The Konstfack library occasionally rolls out carts full of books that we give away. These are often books received as donations – books that we already have in our collections and don't have the space to hold.
We want to offer books in good condition and of relevance to Konstfack. During the summer, we have therefore continued going through our library stacks and have selected numerous books that we are now giving away for free. These are often second or third copies of books that we find we no longer need to keep. Some of these may be old and worn, but some are brand new and without library markings.This year we are giving away a lot of books in art, design and architecture – as well as some other goodies!
Book carts with a mixed selection will be placed by the library's entrance, Monday-Friday throughout the week!
22 AUGUST 2022
Degree exhibitions 2002-2022
BOOK EXHIBITION. We display a sampling of all the material the library has collected in conjunction with the Konstfack degree show during the last twenty years. Exhibition catalogues, artists' books, fiction etc. Most of the books are not found in the collections of any other library.
20 MAJ 2022
Konstfack Collection
BOOK EXHIBITION. Exhibition of books published by Konstfack 2019-2022. Konstfack's publication committee was established in the autumn of 2018, with the stated mission of "promoting publications of high quality made by the researchers and teachers at Konstfack". Twelve books have been published since then, in four publication series:
- Konstfack Research Collection
- Konstfack Education Collection
- Konstfack Artists' Book Collection
- Konstfack Dissertation Collection
28 APRIL 2022
Prototypes
EXHIBITION. Students from the bachelor programme Industrial design exhibit prototypes from a project on materials, prototypes and production.
20 APRIL 2022
How is history made?
EXHIBITION. In the course History of art, design and craft (year 1) the students have worked with the theme How is history made? Works from two student groups are shown.
Amanda Leksell, Alma Jarnestad, Ambra Byrne, Johanna Söderberg and Jonathan Gard pose the question which objects, what kinds of knowledge become archived and are preserved? They are showing a glass receptacle that prompts the visitor to create an archive of the present time at Konstfack.
Alice Larsson, Hanna Ailaskar, Hannah Nittnaus and Ronja Joensuu have worked with the paraphrase as method where they translate and research historical works by Hannah Ryggen (1894–1970), Yayoi Kusama (1929), Anders Bruno Liljefors (1923–1970) and the three sculptors Athenodoros, Polydorus and Hagesander from around 170–50 BCE (the photograph shows Alice Larsson's work paraphrasing the sculpture Laocoön and His Sons)
8 APRIL 2022
Timeline 1844-2022
BOOK EXHIBITION. A book exhibition highlighting a number of former Konstfack students. Hilma af Klint, for instance. She was trained in portrait painting at Tekniska skolan (later renamed Konstfack) in the 1880's. A couple of decades later she began to make abstract paintings inspired by spritism and theosophy. Now widely regarded as a world pioneer in abstract art, she is the first stop on the timeline.
1 APRIL 2022
Three simultaneous book exhibits!
EXHIBITIONS. We exhibit books by every recipient of the Hasselblad Award, from 1980 (Lennart Nilsson) to 2022 (Dayanita Singh). The second exhibit consists of books published during 2021, and lastly, a small exhibit honouring this year's laureate of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) and former Konstfack student Eva Lindström.
28 MARCH 2022
Semiotic & 3-D gestalt
EXHIBITION. Second year students from the bachelor programme Industrial design show results from the course Semiotic & 3-D gestalt, led by Cheryl Akner Koler and Jonas Lundin. The frame of each of the robots is a dish brush, and it is set in motion by vibration created by a small battery powered motor attached to the brush.
10 FEBRUARY 2022
Industrial production
EXHIBITION. A course in industrial production is held during the fall as a part of the bachelor programme Textile. The third year students participate in study visits at the major hubs of the Swedish textile industry. One of the tasks during the course is to work together with a manufacturing company and work out a proposal using the technology available at the company. A sampling of the resulting works is exhibited in the library window display. The students have worked with two companies, Ekelunds Linneväveri in Horred and Hitex in Svängsta. Participating students: Emma Lundberg, Micael de Leeuw, Carli Halvars, Lynn Stenvall, Tyra Mohager, Moa-Matilda Nilsson, Sanne Lovén Rolén
19 JANUARY 2022
Weaving
EXHIBITION. Students from year one students at the bachelor programme Textile exhibit woven works. The quotes in the exhibition come from the book On weaving (1965) by the German-American textile artist Anni Albers (1899-1994).
9 DECEMBER 2021
Media students' degree projects
EXHIBITION. Ten weeks of intensified media studies have resulted in three 3D-animations, four 2D-animations, two stop motion animations, one art film, six analogue photos, three digital photos, one logotype and two 3D-prints. It also resulted in six workshops in six different schools and a web page with teaching aids. Link to the exhibition web page.
24 NOVEMBER 2021
Textile sculpture
EXHIBITION. Students from the The Department of Visual Arts and Sloyd Education exhibit sculptures from a course in textile construction. One of the tasks in the course is to create An unfamiliar bird.
1. A bird is formed in clay. 2. A paper pattern is constructed, and the textile bird is sown together.
Beside constructing the pattern, the task is to convey a cultural expression in the bird. Where does it come from?
26 OCTOBER 2021
Help us improve!
November 1 to 19 we will need your help to make the study environment in the library better.
Every Monday we will ask a new question on our whiteboard in the library and on social media. Please answer on the whiteboard, per e-mail or on social media.
There will be sweets available in the library as a reward.
31 AUGUST 2021
What is an Artists' book? Examples and explanations from the library
EXHIBITION. Artists' books and related items from the collections of the library at Konstfack. The display cases contain rare copies of books usually kept behind lock and key: exhibition catalogues and artists' publications that the library has collected through the years. On the shelves along the wall is an assortment of Artists' books and books about Artists' books, all available for loan.
29 MARS 2021
Covid Creatures
EXHIBITION. 29 March - 20 April 2021. The second year students in the bachelor program Industrial Design exhibits works from a course. The assignment was to dramatize expressions and identity in a robot - to create a scenario that links associations to cultural attitbutes and rituals that give meaning and identity to the robot.
JANUARY 2021
OUR SPACES / VÅRA RUM
BOOK EXHIBITION. 18 January 2021. The exhibition is based around a reading list on discrimination, racism, feminism and colonialism, put together by the group Our Spaces / Våra rum. The library had some, but not all of the books. We now have most of them. The books do not have to remain on the shelf, all of them are possible to check out!
19 OKTOBER 2020
Access
EXHIBITION. The second year master’s CRAFT! students put together a real webshop for an exhibition that never happened. We are 24 crafters from Konstfack who were given the task to create real gift shop items from fake exhibitions, each corresponding to a year in the history of the Stockholm House of Culture. Gallery 6 is an imaginary space floating above the House of Culture, since the opening in 1974. We hereby invite you to consider how culture is consumed. How to get access? Who has access and what is accessed? The products displayed here give an insight to each year and simultaneously ask you to question what you take away from an experience.
View the exhibited objects here
1 OKTOBER 2020
Svensk bokkonst 2019
EXHIBITION. The prize ceremony for Svensk bokkonst 2019 (Swedish Book Art 2019) was held at Konstfack on Thursday 1 October 2020. As usual many of the recipients have been Konstfack students or employees. Among the names you will recognise the former students Sandra Praun and Oscar Guermouche ("Noir"), Lena Sjöberg ("Min syster är ett spöke") and Nina Ulmaja ("Strindbergs lilla röda", "A Book Is A Book Is A Book", "N/L:s poesibibliotek").
The 25 awarded books are being exhibited in the library until 16 October. The exhibition will then travel around Sweden.
1 SEPTEMBER 2020
Exhibition about the Konstfack Degree Exhibition 2002-2019
EXHIBITION. Every year the library collects catalogues and student publications produced in conjunction with the Degree Exhibition. This year (2020) the exhibition could not be held in a traditional manner, and was instead turned into a web-based exhibition. This meant fewer publications for us to gather, but it also meant the return of the printed exhibition catalogue! For the first time since 2008 the Konstfack Degree Exhibition gets an official printed catalogue. The catalogue is published later in the fall, but the library wishes to celebrate the occasion by showing examples of student-initiated catalogues and other student publications from the 21st century. Most of these were made during the years when no official printed catalogue was produced by Konstfack.
The exhibition contiues until further notice.
17 APRIL 2020
Spring 2020
Due to the global virus epidemic the library is currently closed to the public and most of Konstfack's students. You can find information about how to use the library's resources from home on the intranet.
Use the library from home (intranet)
2 MARCH 2020
Women designers and artists at Konstfack
BOOK EXHIBITION. The library exhibits books by and about designers and artists who at some time studied at Konstfack, from Hilma af Klint (who studied painting at Tekniska skolan for one year in 1880) through Elsa Beskow, Märta Måås-Fjetterström, Torun Bülow-Hübe, Rosa Taikon, Cecilia Edefalk, Tuija Lindström to Erika Lagerbielke and Lotta Kühlhorn.
20 FEBRUARY 2020
One book – a course for GF&I, Ceramics & Glass and Fine Art
EXHIBITION. The exhibition lasts until 24 February.
3 FEBRUARI 2020
The Life of an Itinerant through a Pinhole
EXHIBITION. Behzad Khosravi, PhD student at Konstfack, exhibits objects linked to his PhD project in the library window.
The exhibition lasts until 10 February.
Behzad's own description:“The Life of an Itinerant through a Pinhole” presents the relationship between class identity and the means of production in Tehran between the years 1956 and 1968 by undertaking a historical analysis of archival images produced by a working-class immigrant community. A local itinerant photographer, Gholamreza Amirbegi, documented the images in question. The collected images present the identity of a particular social group in the city of Tehran, following a period of immigration to the capital due to the effects of war and the subsequent economic devastation and the epidemic of bankruptcy among smaller cities. The images reveal diverse subjects in relation to the urban life in the southwest of Tehran. Gholamreza’s images underline the relationship between global and local subjectivity of image production within an isolated working-class neighborhood in the southwest of Tehran. By renarrating the archival materials, resignifying subaltern histories and evoking memories, this unknown archive tells stories of the social changes in contemporary Iran from below, as experienced through the images of global cinema, unconscious colonial memory, and means of production from the subalterns.[1] This chapter introduces and reinforces the necessity of itinerancy, not just as an activity on the part of Gholamreza, but to present the notions of global traveling images and colonial history, and their effects on social and political conditions. I also highlight the absence of representation of this political and social identity in the realm of contemporary arts in Iran, as well as in the modern Iranian nation-state’s desire to construct a domestic “primitive” people in order to build a Tehran-centric national culture.[2]
By applying a comparative historical material analysis, I develop a multi-sited practice and archaeology of contemporary history. I explore the possible resemblances constructed on the notion of unconscious colonial memory, proletarianism and the technology of image production behind it within societies sharing interconnected histories. I offer a reinterpretation of everyday historical observations of the image—one that is taken for granted—into an archaeological one: the prestigious and valuable object. We must dig into the history to discover the lost identity and then displace the image of the past from its historical location in order to address the question: What happens to the past from the perspective of the future?"
3 FEBRUARI 2020
PhD students exhibit in the library!
EXHIBITION. A few of the PhD students at Konstfack exhibit their projects in the library window during Konstfack's Research Week 2020.
18 DECEMBER 2019
Presentation of a process
EXHIBITION. 18 December 2019 - 12 January 2020. Third year students from the bachelor programme Textile is exhibiting results from the course Industrial production. The course is collaborating with different partners from the textile industry each year, and this year they have worked with Ludvig Svensson.
28 NOVEMBER 2019
The Jubilee Exhibition
EXHIBITION. 28 November - 4 December 2019. In conjunction with the publication of the new book 175 år av kamp, glädje och misslyckanden (= 175 years of struggle, joy and failure) celebrating Konstfack's history, the library is exhibiting materials from our collection that relate to the themes in the book. The exhibition only lasts for one week, so hurry up!
The image above is an advertisement in the newspaper Aftonbladet from 10 October 1844, advertising the new school, the "Sunday Drawing School for Craftsmen".
6 NOVEMBER 2019
Book presentation and exhibition with Our Polite Society
6 November 2019. Jens Schildt, visiting teacher at Graphic form and illustration at Konstfack and part of the design firm Our Polite Society, presents the book project The FACIT Model. The subject of the book is the typewriter and office furnishing manufacturer Facit in Åtvidaberg, Sweden, which for a period in the 20th century was a world leading company in its field, but which did not survive the burgeoning globalization of the 1980's. The book presents materials from the company archive. The presentation is held in Swedish, with a reading of extracts from the book in English.
An exhibition of background material for the book is shown in an exhibition in the library, beginning on 6 November.
14 OCTOBER 2019
Picture book artists who studied at Konstfack (again)
BOOK EXHIBITION. 14 October 2019. Once again we are showing childrens' picture books by artists who were once students at Konstfack - but it's not the same exhibition as the last time! Most Swedes (and some non-Swedes) will be familiar with at least some of these books.
5 SEPTEMBER 2019
Book presentation with Tomas Colbengtson
11 September 2019. Tomas Colbengtson will be showing images of his artwork and talking about his new book, Faamoe, meaning strenght, power or endurance in the southern Sami language. The book deals with loss of language, colonization and encorced migration of the Sami people. Swedish text by Jan-Erik Lundström, translation into the south Sami language by Per-Martin Israelsson.
Read more about the book here (in Swedish).
4 SEPTEMBER 2019
Zickermans studiesamling
EXHIBITION. September 2019. We have made some changes in the library stacks during the summer. Among them is a new exhibition about Lilli Zickerman and her study collection which is stored there. There is also a new folder about Lilli and the collection, unfortunately only in Swedish. The collection has been digitized:Hemslöjden
2 SEPTEMBER 2019
Poetic Form
EXHIBITION. 2 September 2019. The exhibition Poetic Form is shown outside the library during the introduction week for new students. The library has chosen among books by Swedish poets designed by former students at Konstfack.
30 AUGUST 2019
Artists' Books and comics
EXHIBITIONS. 2 September 2019. The library is proud to present two small exhibitions in the library during the introduction week for new students. Both exhibitions are situated along the same wall of the library, where we have mounted the new shelves for Artists' books. The first exhibition focuses on Artists' books by students and staff at Konstfack. The second exhibition is an updated rerun of an exhibition held earlier in the year, presenting comics by Konstfack students and staff.
29 MAY 2019
"Främmande fåglar i textil dräkt"
EXHIBITION. 28 Maj - 5 June 2019. Teacher education students in the second year exhibit textile sculptures of birds in the library window.
More information (in Swedish)
16 MAJ 2019
Konstfack degree exhibition 2019
EXHIBITIONS. Four students exhibit in the library during the Konstfack degree exhibition.
AnnaLeena Prykäri, Fine Art (Master)
Carola Björk, Fine Art (Master)
Olle Helin, Fine Art (Bachelor)
Joel Arizona Widerberg, Fine Art (Bachelor)
16 APRIL
Människan - en berättelse
EXHIBITION. 9-29 April 2019. An exhibition in the library, by Beatrice Nydahl, Ibis, Ämneslärarprogrammet (Bild och media).
5 APRIL 2019
Comic creators at Konstfack
EXHIBITION. 6-7 April 2019. In conjunction with The Stockholm International Comics Festival (SIS19) the library, together with the bachelor program Graphic design & illustration and the master program Visual communication, presents an exhibition of comic creators with a background at Konstfack, either as students or as teachers. The exhibition takes us from Swedish comics pioneer Oskar Andersson who graduated in 1898 until the present day, and includes many well known artists from the medium of comics. Parts of the exhibition will continue to be shown in the library after the festival.
27 MARCH 2019
Digitisation of the Zickerman collection
The Swedish craft association Svenska Hemslöjdsföreningarnas Riksförbund has just finished digitising the study collection put together by Lilli Zickerman in the early parts of the last century. The collection consists of 12.000 partially colored photographic reproductions of Swedish vernacular textiles. The collection is the property of the association, but it has been housed at Konstfack since 1947. Below is a short video presenting the collection and the digitisation (in Swedish).
Watch the video here.
22 MARCH 2019
Mapping the field of jewellery
EXHIBITION. 22 mars - 3 april 2019, in the library
What does the field of contemporary jewellery look like? In Sweden, Europe, the world? What is the arena we are entering into like, and what do the established names say? The second-year students at the bachelor program at Ädellab have interviewed four professionals in the field of jewellery, in Sweden and internationally.
21 JANUARY 2019
Picture book artists who studied at Konstfack
BOOK EXHIBITION. The library exhibits books by former Konstfack students, such as Tove Jansson, Ilon Wikland, Jan Lööf, Eva Eriksson, Pija Lindenbaum, Stina Wirsén and Siri Ahmed Backström.
10 JANUARY 2019
Action & failure
EXHIBITION. 10-21 January 2018 in the library. The third year students of the bachelor program Industrial design exhibit self initiated design explorations.
30 NOVEMBER 2018
Textile birds
EXHIBITION. 30 November - 21 December, in the library.
Fourth-year students from the teacher education program for Visual Arts and Sloyd exhibit textile birds in the library window.
8 NOVEMBER 2018
The video lounge
What happened to the library’s video lounge? That poorly lit room with dark red walls in the corner of the library? Anyone? No? Well, the correct answer is that the room is back! But now it can even be used as a bookable group room, a room for one on one tutorials or reading, as well as a video lounge. The walls are white and the lighting in pretty intense. Perhaps a little too intense for watching films, so be sure to turn off the lights by the door. The video cases are no longer housed on shelves along the wall. Instead, you will find the covers in a number of binders, with the categories Contemporary, Historical, Students and Documentary (see the picture below). If you would like to watch a film, contact one of the library staff, who will get you the actual disc or video cassette. The library gleefully awaits the inevitable renaissance of the VHS.
3 SEPTEMBER 2018
New semester - new students - new books
The library has been closed for a large part of the summer, but we have continued to buy new books the whole time, and they are now on display here and there in the library. A selection of new books is shown in the image below. Please click on the image for a more readable version!
![39 pressbilder från OEI editör / Cecilia Grönberg | Allmän didaktik : mellan normativitet och evidens / Alexander von Oettingen | Altered States of Consciousness / Marc Wittmann | Art, media design, and postproduction : open guidelines on remix and appropriation | Artists and their books : books and their artists / Marcia Reed, Glenn Phillips | Arts and crafts in Waldorf schools : an integrated approach | Autism och ADHD i skolan : handbok i tydliggörande pedagogik / Anna Sjölund… | Barns lek och experimenterande verksamhet / författare: Sarah Damgaard Warrer |Blå jakaranda : mitt tack till Afrika / Peder Gowenius | Built unbuilt / by Julien De Smedt and Julien Lanoo [photographer] | Carousell / Felice Hapetzeder, Kristina Kvalvik, Marit Lindberg… | Craft becomes modern : the Bauhaus in the making | Crepuscular tales / Peter Köhler | Design moves : translational processes and academic entrepreneurship … | Det universella språket : efterkrigstidens abstrakta konst | Didaktiken efter Vygotskij : design för lärande / Staffan Selander | Don't sleep : the urgent messages of Oliver Munday / Oliver Munday | Duotone : limited colour schemes in graphic design / edited by Design 360 Magazine | Estetiska ämnen och genus / Eva Skåreus (red.) | Forensic architecture : violence at the threshold of detectability / Eyal Weizman | Fågelsång och betong : Mattias Bäcklins konstnärskap / text: Björn Norberg | Goodbye world! : looking at art in the digital age / Omar Kholeif | Graphic design sourcebook : the 100 best contemporary graphic designers | Helt vildt! : the second golden age of Danish design | KKV - konstnärernas kollektivverkstad en svensk kulturhistoria | Kreativa slöjdlärare | Kul att det körs / fotografi: Per Englund | Köket : rum för drömmar, ideal och vardagsliv under det långa 1900-talet | Låtsasheten / Nathalie Ruejas Jonson | Lärandets ordning och reda : ledarskap i klassrummet / Marcus Samuelsson | Läraryrkets etik och värdepedagogiska praktik / Gunnel Colnerud | Makeover : conversions and extensions of homes and residential spaces | Newspaper design : editorial design from the world's best newsrooms | När Sverige blev modernt : Gregor Paulsson, vackrare vardagsvara, funktionalism... | Om färg / K. G. Nilson | Passage, schakt, nisch, fodring : vandring / Petra Gipp | Pedagogik som vetenskap : en inbjudan / Mattias Nilsson Sjöberg (red.) | Plan and play, play and plan : defining your art practice / Janwillem Schrofer | Prompt : socially engaging objects and environments / Tamie Glass | Rave art : flyers, invitations and membership cards : from the birth of acid house… | Reading art : art for book lovers / David Trigg | Red Thread / Charlotte Higgins | Shizuko Yoshikawa | Street to studio / Rafael Schacter | The artist as : producer, quarry, thread, director, writer… | The constituent museum : constellations of knowledge, politics and mediation | The design of childhood : how the material world shapes independent kids | The material culture of tableware : Staffordshire pottery and American values | The trade of the teacher : visual thinking with Mieke Bal / Jeroen Lutters | Wind upon the face of waters / Johan Willner | Zoe Leonard : survey](/PageFiles/41668/new-books-summer-2018-small.jpg)
29 JUNE 2018
Study Support Unit - language support for students
From the autumn term of 2018, the library will be responsible for building a Study Support Unit at Konstfack. The purpose is to provide all students with good conditions for completing their studies.
The Study Support Unit's mission is to provide language support and language supervision in Swedish and English that will help students develop their writing, speech skills and their study techniques. Read more
8 JUNE 2018
Closed for summer
We are now closed for summer. Welcome back Monday 27 August. We would like to wish everybody a really nice summer!
18 MAY 2018
The Degree exhibition in the library
The Konstack degree exhibition is in full swing, and this year some of the works are exhibited in the library. Among those are the printed publications produced by students for the exhibition, and an installation piece by Maria Hilmersson Landgren.
16 APRIL 2018
Exhibition downstairs in the library
EXHIBITION. Don't miss this exhibition in the library stacks, in the room that houses the Martin collection (the volumes on shelves in the image below). The artist is Master student Qingqing Zhang, and the title of the work is "Amid Otherworldly Stages". Dates: 16-20 April.
3 APRIL 2018
Ice Snow Sápmi
EXHIBITION. Textile works by students from the Techer Education program are shown in the library on 11-27 April. The students have made an inspiring study trip to the Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi and the Jokkmokk Winter Market.
28 FEBRUARY 2018
Speech Synthesis software TorTalk
TorTalk is a speech synthesis software that handles all types of text on your screen, including images of scanned text. The software is pre-installed on computers in the library and in some of the computer rooms. Konstfack students and staff can also install the software on their own private computers.
For more information on TorTalk, contact the library at biblioteket@konstfack.se
22 FEBRUARY 2018
Self service is back!
The library is once again equipped with a self-check machine for checking out and returning books.
We are sorry for the inconveniance our users have suffered during the past few weeks. The members of staff, however, have appreciated some of the effects of the missing machine, namely that we have had more interactions with our users than we've had in a long time. Remember that you're always welcome to approach us with your questions, and we are also happy to help with book loans!
22 FEBRUARY 2018
Posted / Unposted
EXHIBITION. Artist book Posted / Unposted is exhibited in conjuction with the GFI course 'Boken'.
An artist book project with special emphasis on letterpress (boktryck) printing, consisting of 24 unique envelopes by 24 artists, that expose the variety of ways letterpress can be used as a creative process.
The envelopes are on display in the glass cases at the library.
The library has also selected a number of titles exploring ideas around letterpress, artist books, mail art, printing, collecting and more, all influenced by Nordic Letterpress Collaboration’s Posted / Unposted.
The material comes from the various corners of the library’s collections, and include journals and articles, monographs and other artist books.
15 FEBRUARY 2018
A book in the library!
EXHIBITION. See the results of a three week interdisciplinary course in book making, involving students from Graphic Design & Illustration, Ceramics & Glass and Fine art. The exhibition is shown in the library 15-21 February.
18 DECEMBER 2017
New artwork
The sight of our new artwork will not have eluded any visitor in the library during the past few days. This majestic animal is placed on one of the book shelves in the library. The artist is Mari Anari, who is currently a student in the Master program CRAFT - Ceramics & glass.
7 DECEMBER 2017
World of Desire - Benedetta Crippa
EXHIBITION. This handpainted sign in the library window is to advertise the exhibition of the book work "World of Desire" by Benedetta Crippa. The book consists of 17 loose leaves and is placed on top of the Oversize books shelf by the information desk in the library 7-15 December 2017.
1 DECEMBER 2017
Christmas exhibition 2017
EXHIBITION. Our christmas exhibition starts today! We're showing christmas-related ads from older magazines found in the library stacks. Most advertisements are focused on food and drink, mostly the latter, which is also reflected in the title of the exhibition (see below). The exhibition is curated by library assistant and artist Florence Wild, and will be shown for the whole month of December.
22 SEPTEMBER 2017
Student work exhibited
EXHIBITION. Students' work from the first half of the 20th century are now shown in the library!
18 APRIL 2017
Japanese prints
EXHIBITION. Starting Tuesday 18 April 2017 we're showing Japanese prints from the library collections. The image shows one of many hand-coloured woodblock prints på Keika Hasegawa depicting chrysanthemums.
6 APRIL 2016
Aurél Schiller
EXHIBITION. The exhibition "Är du där - sover du" (Are you there - are you sleeping) is shown in the library 6 October - 4 November 2016.
Aurél Schiller, who is a former teacher at Konstfack, is exhibiting ink drawings. The exhibition is a cooperation between the library and the Ädellab department.
