Haunting. Tom Hedqvist & Ingela Håkansson Lamm
This exhibition is the next instalment in the Thiel Gallery’s initiative where artists are invited to present works from the collection in a contemporary perspective. This time, in collaboration with two profoundly experienced artists/designers: Tom Hedqvist and Ingela Håkansson Lamm. Their work in the design collective 10-gruppen helped launch them as pioneers in textile art in Sweden. Their background ties in with a key exhibition tradition at the Thiel Gallery, where textile art is featured regularly. Tom Hedqvist’s past is also linked with Blockhusudden: his father was a curator at the Thiel Gallery in 1961–1977, and the family lived in the staff flat, which has since been converted into the café. This exhibition is a kind of homecoming for him.
Tom Hedqvist and Ingela Håkansson Lamm were given free reins to choose works and objects from the collection, together with their own works created specifically for the exhibition, in an explorative dialogue with history.
The word haunting can have a variety of meanings. A house can be haunted with misfortune, or destructive forces that may afflict even the happiest of families – such as the sad fate that forced the Thiels to surrender their home and art collection. But it also conveys an elusive, or eerie quality when referring to a house – a dream home, a lost home, the home of others.
Ingela Håkansson Lamm has focused mainly on the Gallery’s interior, including details of the furniture that belonged to the household. Tom Hedqvist instead looks for traces of the place he once called home. They employ different approaches: Håkansson Lamm bases her work on physical materials, while Hedqvist probes memories of his father’s exhibition in 1962. It was based on a folder that had recently been found in the Gallery’s collection, with some hundred prints by Edvard Munch. The rich lines and darkness of the Norwegian artist’s works made an indelible impression that have infused his own imagery in abstract gouaches. Håkansson Lamm has a less personal relationship to the home. Instead, she explores the material traces in every nook and cranny and visualises them for contemporary visitors in playful collages.
The passing of time is accentuated in the dialogue between these two artists. This private manor has seen many transformations. Together, Tom Hedqvist and Ingela Håkansson Lamm offer interpretations that shed light on things that have been tucked away for years, reminding us of the cyclical nature of history.
Tom Hedqvist (b. 1948) studied at the Beckmans College of Design and co-founded the 10-gruppen design collective. He has created textile collections for companies such as Ikea and Svenskt Tenn and was the artistic director of Orrefors. Hedqvist was formerly a professor of graphic design at the Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, principal of the Beckmans College of Design and director of the Röhsska Museum of Fashion, Design and Decorative Arts in Gothenburg. He is represented in the collections of the Nationalmuseum, Nordiska museet, the Röhsska Museum of Applied Arts, Design and Fashion and the Textile Museum in Borås.
Ingela Håkansson Lamm (b. 1944) studied at the Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design and co-founded the 10-gruppen design collective. She has designed textile and wallpaper prints for companies such as Ikea, Duro and Borås Wäfveri. Her work was shown in 2020 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, in the retrospective Rooms, Pictures, Stripes, together with Tom Hedqvist. They have also exhibited together twice at Berg Gallery in Stockholm. Håkansson Lamm has created monumental public works for the City of Stockholm, including for the district court (1989) and Hagastaden (2015). She is represented in the collections of the Nationalmuseum, Malmö Museums, Kalmar Konstmuseum and Public Art Sweden.
