Vernissage Thursday, October 9 at 5-8 PM

Participating artists
Damien Ajavon (Oslo), Hera Büyüktaşcıyan (Istanbul), Céline Condorelli (London), Luca Lee Frei (Stockholm), Gidree Bawlee (Balia / Thakurgaon) and Bella Rune (Stockholm)

What would the idea of the origins of humanity look like if archaeologists had been able to study all the perishable materials that had long since dissolved and broken down? Perhaps the whole of history would have been rewritten and we would have talked about the thread age instead of the iron age, the weaving age instead of the bronze age.

In the exhibition Soft Logic, visitors are invited to a room to rethink what we “know” together with a group of artists who twist perspectives and explore logics other than the accepted. One of the artists speculates on the relationship between traditional patterns and modernist abstractions together with a group of women from Sidi El Mokhtar in Marrakech. Stretched along the floor of the art gallery, we encounter traces of Tensta’s millennial history from the Folkunga era to the Million dwelling program, depicted in carpet layers with cut-out patterns. Fabric with visible folds and traces of previous use testify to the value of textiles as part of a universal everyday gesture. Ceremonial textiles are used in all religions, but what could a ritual textile look like for a time with a need to express queer community?

This is something that is presented in brand new works by the participating artists. But Tensta konsthall also has its own textile tradition.

–For over ten years, the Women's Café at Tensta Konsthall has met twice a week to sew, knit, patch, socialize and talk. For us, it is clear what it says about the unifying power of textiles. Taking a closer look at the different ways that textiles put us in motion, in contact with each other and spur innovation through an exhibition is something that has been in the air for a while, says Cecilia Widenheim, director of Tensta Konsthall.

Bella Rune, who has long used textile methods and materials in her art as a fruitful reading of history and possible ways forward, emphasizes that it is not only the beautiful or valuable that is interesting. Textile culture can also be seen as a key to hidden knowledge, to memory banks and understanding of the human condition. Bella Rune is also responsible for the design of the exhibition, a playing field where history, technology and textile knowledge are in dialogue with the exhibited works.

–What is lost if we overlook the history of textiles as technology? For me, textiles are not an end in themselves, but a method to understand people, to see where we are going and to get in touch with our driving forces, says Bella Rune, co-curator and participating artist in the exhibition.In connection with the exhibition, all artists will activate parts of the exhibited works in different ways. Throughout the exhibition period, we invite you to the Platt som en pannkaka salon, where food, music and textile practice meet for an evening.

Photos: Jean-Baptiste Béranger.

The exhibitions is supported by Pro Suecia Foundation.