Johannes Heldén, Worlds

Working with a variety of media, Johannes Heldén explores subjects like ecology, evolution, sentience and artificial intelligence. Often set in a near future, his fictional worlds are created by means of images, animation, text and music, combined in site specific installations, performances and digital works. In this exhibition, Heldén continues to explore the intersection between word and image. The exhibition title Worlds refers to the narrative and logic of a near future where species are mutating or disappearing – a scenario constructed with both visual and literary means.

The exhibition is accompanied by a new collection of poems titled First Contact, which will be published by Albert Bonnier Förlag in April. The new publication takes place in the same fictional world as the works in the exhibition and is part of the same narrative, enriching each other at the same time as being separate works.

Johannes Heldén (b. 1978) is currently the IASPIS artist-in-residence at ISCP, New York (2018/19). In addition, he is part of the Desert X Biennale in Coachella Valley, CA, this spring with a special project, Encyclopedia / Desert Edition. Heldén has exhibited extensively, both in Sweden and internationally, most recently at Art Lab Gnesta & Grafikens Hus, the Jewish museum C/O the Textile Museum of Sweden in Borås, RIBOCA1 (The Riga Biennial of Contemporary Art) and Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Recent solo shows include A New We – Chapter 2 at Kunsthall Trondheim in Norway and The Exploding Book at Konstakademien in Stockholm.

This spring, Heldén will participate in the new Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale 2019 with new works and in an exhibition at KUBE in Ålesund, Norway, titled The Edge of the Sea.