Loulou Cherinet / State Design

On Friday, October 13th, Bildmuseet opens an exhibition by the artist Loulou Cherinet. For Bildmuseet, she has created a site-specific room installation inspired by early panorama painting and 19th-century cycloramas. Around forty, four-meter-high paintings come together to envelop the museum visitor in the illusion of an urban environment.

Join us for a press preview of the exhibition on Wednesday, October 11th, at 10:00 AM (RSVP). The artist will be present to introduce her exhibition in a conversation with museum curator Anders Jansson.

During the major societal transformations of the 19th century, there was a growing need for images to comprehend the world. People gathered in panorama buildings to experience circular paintings—some over 100 meters in circumference—that depicted historical events, landscapes, or distant countries. The 360-degree paintings gave an illusion of being in the depicted location.

In a similar manner, Loulou Cherinet uses the circular form to create spatiality that envelops the museum visitor and compels us to navigate the motif. Cherinet has manipulated the perspective of paintings based on photographic references, creating the illusion of a place. She has drawn her motifs from Öbacka Strand, a residential area just a few blocks from Bildmuseet. It could be any Swedish city.

There's something contradictory about the installation; it is both tranquil and claustrophobic at the same time. The space created instils a sense of security but offers few exits. It is not just a depiction of urban space but also represents the structures on which we have built our society. A city is more than its buildings, streets, and the people who inhabit it. It also consists of the systems—laws, plans, and economics—that affect how we live our lives and how we relate to and interact with one another. Cherinet is interested in how politics manifest and express themselves in our physical environment and in our bodies, in how aesthetics merge with social and ideological governance.

Loulou Cherinet has created State Design on commission for Bildmuseet and made the paintings on-site in Umeå. The exhibition is produced by Bildmuseet.

Loulou Cherinet (b. 1970, Gothenburg), based in Stockholm, is primarily known for working with spatial installations for film and moving images, often in interdisciplinary collaborations. She received her education at Addis Abeba University School of Fine Art & Design and the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. Today a professor of fine art at Konstfack, she has held solo exhibitions in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Addis Ababa, Prague, Krakow, Lüneburg, and Jakarta. Her works have been showcased at art biennials in places such as São Paulo, Venice, Bamako, and Sydney, as well as Manifesta 8 and Momentum 7.

PRESS IMAGES: www.bildmuseet.umu.se/en/press...

PRESS PREVIEW: Wednesday 11 October at 10:00 AM (RSVP)
Loulou Cherinet will present her exhibition in conversation with museum curator Anders Jansson.

EXHIBITION OPENING: Art Friday 13 October at 5:00 – 12:00 PM
Presentation of the exhibition at 7:00 PM by Loulou Cherinet and Anders Jansson. Guided tours, creative workshop, performance by artist Irina Laaja, restaurant, bar, and a DJ.

Contact Information

Anders Jansson, Museum Curator
anders.jansson@umu.se, +46 90-7869110

Helena Vejbrink, Press Contact
helena.vejbrink@bildmuseet.umu.se, +46 90-7869073