Exhibitions

Matrix co-founding member Anne Thorne carries a pram up the steps of a subway in Aldgate, East London from ‘Urban Obstacle Courses’ in Making Space: Women and the Man-Made Environment (Pluto Press, 1984). Photo: Liz Millen.

On until 1.9 2024

Whose body standards have shaped the society in which we live? And what can we learn from the disability rights struggles that demand access to the city and the built environment?

The exhibition takes its point of departure in the architectural practice of Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative—a British group of architects—who in the 1980s and 90s attempted to lay bare the assumptions built into the environments we inhabit.

On until 1.9 2024 →

Ett politiskt klassrum av Apolonija Šušteršič

A Political Classroom

On until 31.12 2024

The subject is political, a concept that various thinkers understand and describe in very different ways. The political aspect of this classroom is negotiated, and seeks to bring awareness of our responsibility for the society we are continually forming together. Why not question the hegemonic system that’s in place, and think of alternatives that could serve us better? The Political Classroom can be a space for experimentation and trials of ideas, an arena for free thought and creativity that can engage everybody.

On until 31.12 2024 →

Activities

Ongoing

How do you experience time?
What norms have shaped the society we live in?
What kind of text would you write based on a body part?
How do you view health?
What makes you sick?

In connection to the exhibition Chronos: health, access and intimacy shown at Tensta konsthall, the poet Nawroz Zakholy holds a reading and writing circle on the theme of the exhibition. We'll meet during four occasions and read different texts, discuss and do creative writing exercises. Texts are shared with the participants before each meeting.

We read texts by Julietta Singh: No Archive Will Restore You, Elain Scarry: The body in pain and Christina Crosby: A Body Undone: Living on After Great Pain and others.

Nawroz Zakholy is a writer and a poet, she has a background in linguistics and communication. She comes from Järva and has been active and conducted cultural activities for young people in the area. Zakholy has together with the scene and the movement Revolution Poetry produced and performed on i.a. Folkoperan, Parkteatern, Unga Klara and Kulturhuset Stadsteatern. In 2018, Zakholy was included in Revolution Poetry's poetry collection named Revolution Poetrys diktsamling, published by Bonnier Carlsen. In 2020, Zakholy appeared in the play Pandemipåverkade Poeter at Dramaten.

During 2020 and 2021, the literary course Att läsa och att bli läst was held at Tensta konsthall, which was later reported on in Lundströms Bokradio. In 2022 she was part of the performance POETIC (R)EVOLUTION—Symfoni Meets Spoken Word at Berwaldhallen under the direction of Nachla Libre. In the same year, one of her texts was published in the journal Vård och Värde, which also gave the title to the exhibition Med trötta ryggar och hjärtan med plats för fler which was shown at the Kalmar konstmuseum. In addition, Nawroz Zakholy has led and participated in the work with Tensta konsthall's text prize for several years. Today, she studies at Teaterlinjen, Sundbybergs Folkhögskola.

The course is free. No prior knowledge is required.
Ages: 15—25 years

Date and location:
Wednesday, 17 April at 17.00—19.00, Tensta konsthall
Wednesday, 24 April at 17.00—19.00, Tensta konsthall
Wednesday, 8 May at 17.00—18.00, Tensta Bibliotek
Wednesday, 15 May at 17.00—19.00, Tensta konsthall

Register to anna-stina@tenstakonsthall.se

The course is a collaboartion with Tensta Bibliotek and ABF Stockholm.
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Tensta konsthall offers free guided tours and workshops for schools in the Järva area, art schools and SFI. Every school holiday, the konsthall organizes creative courses for youth in collaboration with various art schools, writers, artists and others.

University preparation courses and adult courses, YH and art and culture courses are always welcome to book guided tours and workshops.

In mid-March, the exhibition Chronos opens, where about ten artists address questions about health, who the city and the built environment are for. Using moving images, objects, painting, textiles, and text, the functionality, norms, and accessibility are discussed.

This is what Tensta konsthall offers:

School programme for Chronos: health, access and intimacy
Available for booking during the period 14.3—1.9 2024

Guided tours (30 min)
During the guided tours, we give a general introduction to the konsthall and/or a viewing of our current exhibition. It's also possible to book a more thematic or in-depth tour.

Workshops (60—90 min)

For elementary and middle school
Body Hand Hope – We explore and take inspiration from the exhibition Chronos and create a physical non-digital series of movement, photo, text and drawings.

For middle and high school and upper secondary school
Posters and Monoprint – We create our own posters with inspiration from the exhibition Chronos, Matrix- Feminist Design Co-operative and Tensta as location and experiment with graphic prints of and in the city.

For junior high school and upper secondary school
Urban sounds, obstacles, and photography – Inspired by the exhibition Chronos and Tensta as a location, participants translate sounds into paintings and work with urban photography.

Cost
Guided tour of current exhibition, maximum of 30 people per tour (40 min) – 700 SEK
Guided tour and workshop, maximum of 20 people per session (60—90 min) – 900 SEK

Guided tours are offered within the konsthall's opening hours, Tuesday—Friday 11.00—17.00
Free for schools in the Järva area, art schools and SFI.

For questions about pedagogy and school program: anna-stina@tenstakonsthall.se
Book a guirded tour: info@tenstakonstall.se
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As part of the Chronos exhibition, Helsinki-based artist Jessie Bullivant will deliver a 26-part programme on multiple dates between 14.3—1.9 2024.

All you need to take part is an email address. The programme is delivered over a series of instalments, unfolding through the framework of Tensta konsthall’s public activities.

Site Specific Illness is an evolving artwork that performs questions about authority, autonomy, and the roles we play within institutions (including the family).

This work is available for remote audiences, and accessible via screen readers.

This programme is free.

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Jessie Bullivant is an artist, occasional writer, and emerging doula. They moved from so-called Australia to Helsinki in 2018 to undertake their Masters studies at the Academy of Fine Art, and have been based there since. Their living and artistic practice is currently funded by the Kone Foundation.

Image: Tensta konsthall's archive
Photo: Jean-Baptiste Béranger
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Vaginal Davis is coming to Stockholm, and at the Vaginal Davis Universität for the Damaged and Gifted, the award-winning artist, punk performer, acclaimed author, and international blacktress will do what she does best: lead the way.

Vaginal Davis makes scenes for a living. She was a founding mother of the queer punk underground of her native Los Angeles in the 1980s and 1990s, before moving to Berlin in 2005 to play a leading role in the queer cultural life of the German capital ever since. In her pioneering and incredibly diverse oeuvre punk meets glamour, queer activism meets racial justice, and resistance meets joy. Ms. Davis also has a long career as an educator, working as a guest professor at various art academies and universities, including in Sweden at the Art Academy Malmö. Her former students are everywhere, extending legacies into contemporary practice.

Taking inspiration from Vaginal Davis’s mentorship, the Universität for the Damaged and Gifted stages performances, lecturinas, workshops, readings, screenings, meals, and more than a few surprises over the course of a weekend at Tensta konsthall. Participants will be inducted into the wondrous world of Ms. Davis and receive a certificate at the end of this intensive weekend “course”.

The full program will be announced in the late spring 2024.

The Vaginal Davis Universität for the Damaged and Gifted is co-organized by Cecilia Widenheim (Director, Tensta konsthall) and Hendrik Folkerts (Curator of International Contemporary Art and Head of Exhibitions, Moderna Museet). This project is part of the exhibition Magnificent Product, which is initiated by Moderna Museet and extends across several locations in Stockholm: Moderna Museet, Nationalmuseum, Accelerator, Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Tensta konsthall and MDT (Moderna Dansteatern). Each institution highlights a different aspect of Vaginal Davis’s expansive practice.

The exhibition is supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Terra Foundation for American Art.
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Always on

Tuesdays and Thursdays, women from the Järva area meet at Tensta konsthall to work with different kinds of crafts. Through joint handiwork, a safe space is made possible where conversation and exchange of experience is at the center. The craftsmanship skills that women in the group already have is amplified up and reinforced by teachers from Hemslöjden and by the other participants. Participants also meet visiting artists and make monthly excursions to Stockholm’s various craft sites, museums, and organizations. Women’s Café is a intimate venue free of constraints, costs, and commercial interests. To participate contact muna@tenstakonsthall.se.
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Fridays and Sundays we welcome participants to our Language Café, open for those who want to practice their basics in Swedish and Arabic, as well as get to make new friends and share experiences and thoughts. The Language Café particularily welcomes those who, for some reason, stand outside the Swedish educational system. During the meetings, we practice grammar, socialize, read simple books and excersise conversation. We are continuously looking for new volunteers.

Are you interested in joining in?
Contact Fahyma Alnablsi: fahyma@tenstakonsthall.se

During the warm months, the Language Café moves out to our allotment, our outdoor classroom. The Language Café is a part of The Silent University, an autonomous educational platform for asylum seekers, refugees and paperless people initiated by the artist Ahmet Ögüt (www.thesilentuniversity.org)
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Our Art porch is open three days a week; Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Come, and you will get the chance to try out multiple textile techniques and make new friends. You don’t need any previous crafting experience. The Art porch is led by pedagogues from Hemslöjden i Stockholms Län (The Stockholm County Crafting) in collaboration with the Women’s Café. We learn from each other. Every summer we chose a special technique or material. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 13—16.
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Citizen to citizen aims to create a meeting place for new arrivals who need support and knowledge about living in Sweden. An advisory activity that can deal with everything from authority contacts and language training, to mediating contact between people with a similar background. Based on the art gallery’s program, the group also meets in joint conversations about art and social issues. Under the direction of Fahyma Alnablsi. For registration and information contact fahyma@tenstakonsthall.se
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Medborgare till medborgare med Fahyma Alnablsi

FEINART - The Future of European Independent Art Spaces in a Period of Socially Engaged Art The EU-funded project FEINART 2020-2024 includes an extensive collaboration between degree-awarding research centres in political philosophy, art theory and cultural management, and the independent European art sector. It provides the first interdisciplinary and holistic investigation of the democratic role and function of socially engaged art in Europe. 11 researchers are provided with relevant academic and non-academic skills to engage with the challenges of this new artistic and cultural landscape. The responsible universities are Wolverhampton University (UK), Zeppelin University (DE), Edinburgh University (UK) and Iceland University (IS). FEINART - The Future of Independant Art Spaces in a Period of Socially Engaged Art is part of the European Union;s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant. Participating art organisations are Tensta konsthall (SE), The BAK (NL); State of Concept (GR); Vessel (IT); Tranzit.ro (RO)and Biennale Warsaw (PL).
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Are you a teacher? Welcome with your class to guided tours of our current exhibitions. We offer introductions according to age, as well as workshops. Contact Anna-Stina: anna-stina@tenstakonsthall.se
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