Annika Eriksson: The Social

“The term ‘social’ refers to a characteristic of living organisms as applied to populations of humans and other animals. It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.”(1)
 

The Social is the title of a comprehensive survey of the artist Annika Eriksson. It focuses on the last few years of her career and is structured around a major new production. With a subdued matter-of-factness and humour, Annika Eriksson explores different forms of human interaction, effects of social transformation, and the complex interplay between humans and other animals.

Annika Eriksson is one of Sweden’s most acclaimed artists internationally. She has exhibited widely since the beginning of the early 1990s, and her work has been presented at the biennials in Istanbul, Shanghai, São Paulo, Dakar, Vienna and Venice.

At the core of her artistic practice is a profound interest in social interaction: how do we live together, what kind of societies do we create, what happens in the margins and in the transitional process from one society to another? A number of her works even place themselves in the gaps that are created when social models fade into history before new ideas and visions have materialized.

In addition to already existing works, The Social also presents a major new production. The new work comprises illuminated signs, a blown-up photograph of an anarchistically oriented children’s workshop, and a large scale replica of a public play sculpture, commissioned for Malmö in 1972. While together forming an installation, these new pieces also create an environment—imbued with memories and associations—for the other works on display.

Annika Eriksson’s long-running investigation into different forms of social interaction and organization also includes that between humans and other animals. This interestingly aligns her practice with the expanding field of Animal Studies, and with the idea of animals as beings-in-themselves, separate from our knowledge of them. 

The works exhibited in The Social move with elusive rapidity between memories and visions of the future. Together, they create a confluence of different time zones, mixing utopian promises from the past with dystopian fantasies, and glimpses of potential new futures.

Curator: Joa Ljungberg

With support from the City of Malmö, Region Skåne and the national government of Sweden.

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social (October 2016)