Mats Adelman and Ylva Westerlund. Wasteland of Dreams

Curator: Anastasia Nefedova.

The first exhibition of the program will be "The Wasteland of Dreams" by Ylva Westerlund and Mats Adelman, an art project exploring the natural environment of the Jerva field in the suburbs of Stockholm. Since 2016, the artists have been conducting observations or, to use their own term, field trips, exploring birds, biotopes, water bodies and traces of human activity in the area. The result of their reflections are works in which the coexistence of human and non-human actors is recognized as an integral factor in today’s reality, and the meeting of natural and cultural phenomena gives rise to possible alternatives.

The Yerva field is a unique example of biodiversity, yet located in close proximity to the city. One of the central objects in the exhibition is Westerlund’s wall painting Speak, Stream. In it, she creates a space of "interpenetration" based on the fluidity, vibration and unsteadiness of agents, ideas, fantasies, feelings and time. Avoidance of direct utterance is a common feature in the works of artists. In the sculptures and watercolors that make up the "Study of Birds in Watercolor" and "Studies of Birds in Tree" series, Adelman does not attempt to catalog and present dominant knowledge about the observed individuals. In his approach, there is a desire to meet the “unknown” and capture this experience. The problematics of describing and interpreting such a meeting are considered in the film "Anabiosis", filmed by the artist on a Super 8 camera.