Ingela Ihrman in Major Exhibition at Malmö Konsthall Fall 2023

Ingela Ihrman

30.9 2023 – 14.1 2024

Opening Friday September 29, 2023

Fall 2023, Malmö Konsthall presents the largest exhibition of the internationally recognized Swedish artist Ingela Ihrman to date. With disarming humor and playfulness, Ingela Ihrman's work tackles questions concerning the conditions of one's own existence. By donning sculptural costumes, fabricated by herself, the artist pretends to be someone else; a giant otter giving birth, a blooming giant water lily, a fig splitting in two.

At the same time, the work brings forth the imbalance and the problems that have arisen ever since humans began to distinguish themself as superior to nature. Ihrman has previously participated in, among other things, the Venice Biennale, and is currently on display at The Carl Eldh Studio Museum in Stockholm.

The exhibition at Malmö Konsthall will include sculpture, installation, video and performance, and consist of around twenty works, mainly from the last ten years when Ihrman has lived in Malmö. During the exhibition period, the artist will activate some of the sculptures and meet the audience as a toad, a clam or a pinecone, characters that behave unexpectedly in the exhibition space – as they emit fragrance, secrete nectar, give birth, feed or reproduce.

Social relations, scientific facts and human experiences serve as the starting point for Ihrman's exploration of the human being and the complex relationship with itself and other living beings in our modern society. By wearing sculptural costumes, she explores her own body and the possibilities and limitations of the self. Her works connect to feminist performance tradition, but equally relevant is the search for meaning and community through rituals and ceremonies. The handmade and unwieldy costumes become an extra layer of flesh and skin that encapsulates and hides one's own being in favor of another. The workmanship in the quirky costumes is precise and the materials are simple, found or recycled.

The sculpture group A Great Seaweed Day, which was shown in the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2019, will be on view in architect Klas Anselm's light filled kunsthalle. A collection of large seaweed sculptures in saturated colors connects the flora of the sea to the flora of the human stomach and intestinal system. First Came The Landscape, 2022, rests directly on the expansive spruce floor of the exhibition space - a giant skeleton laid out of logs, branches and sticks from an alder tree that lived and died in one of Malmö's green areas. After the end of the exhibition, the wood is returned to the cyclic processes of nature by placing the work on the ground of Guldängen playground.

The exhibition will also include the theater performance Who Are You? which will be performed on several occasions during a week in November 2023. Ingela Ihrman has created the script, costumes and scenography in close collaboration with director and playwright Maja Salomonsson. Six actors from Ögonblicksteatern in Umeå portray characters from the kingdom of plants and animals, and discuss with the audience what it means to be someone or something; What does it mean to play a role, and who decides who you are?

The exhibition, which is curated by Mats Stjernstedt, director of Malmö Konsthall, will open on September 29 and run until January 14, 2024.

About the artist
Ingela Ihrman was born in Kalmar in 1985 and studied at Konstfack in Stockholm. She lives and works in Malmö and Stockholm. Ihrman has exhibited at Carl Eldh's Studio Museum, Stockholm; Gasworks, London, Eden Project, Cornwall, (all 2023); Åstorp konsthall (2022); Karlin Studios / FUTURA, Prague (2021); Kristianstad konsthall (2018); der TANK, Institut Kunst, FHNW Academy of Art and Design, Basel (2017) and Tensta konsthall, Stockholm (2016). Her work has been shown in group exhibitions at the Wellcome Collection, London (2021); Moderna Museet, Malmö; Kiasma, Helsinki (both 2020); Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2019); Lunds konsthall (2018); Art Lab, Gnesta (2016). She has also participated in the Yokohama Triennale (2020); Nordic Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2019); and in the Gwangju Biennale (2016).

Press contact:
Sofia Bertilsson
Art Insider PR
press@artinsiderpr.com
+46 733 866820

Press images on Malmö Konsthall website: Pass word: ”press2023”.