From an historical perspective, abstraction in art represents both a radical avant-garde achievement and the perfect format for art as luxury. Abstraction gave birth to the ultimate autonomous works, and—one could claim—freedom itself. Free from commissioners’ intensions, moralization or political agendas. And it was free to be absolutely self-absorbed. From a contemporary perspective, the exhibition “Abstract Possible: The Stockholm Synergies” throws new light on abstraction. While on the surface sharing an interest in formal abstraction, it would seem that the artists travelled various routes before arriving at abstraction. For some, abstraction is a way out of a dead-end. And if abstraction is experiencing a revival in contemporary art, it is rather a notion of it that extends beyond formal bounds. In Maria Lind’s exhibition there are three different concepts of abstraction (partially doubled over) in three venues. While the main venue Tensta Konsthall has a strong formal emphasis, a seminar room in the Fashion Studies department at Stockholm University is a site of social abstraction as a form of “withdrawal,” and Bukowskis Auction House hosts a commercial exhibition indirectly addressing “economic abstraction.” The space at Tensta Konsthall offers a seductive exhibition rich in visual exercises and tactile play with material such as …