Annika Lundgren

My artistic practice today is manifested in time- and text-based works at the intersection of the political and poetic. The narrative and the performative are central elements. I am interested in the relationship between the vocal and the physical expressions of the speaking individual, and in the ways in which several simultaneous narratives can be conveyed through the combination of the two. Specifically, I am concerned with public speaking in the political context: the character of the text performance and the words, the conscious omission in the pauses and the dynamics between the body’s positioning, gestures and voice. Writing is central to my work and something I am always working with in different forms.

I firmly believe that the creation of art is more important today than ever before. In an age of polarisation and populism, art is a tool for processing and considering the present on a complex and multidimensional level. My starting point as a teacher is that knowledge production includes material, intellectual, emotional, political and cultural elements that cannot be separated from each other. I see myself as a facilitator of learning opportunities where all participants contribute based on their expertise and where individual experiences are contextualized as knowledge.

I am educated at the Valand Academy of Art in Gothenburg and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and have taught at several art academies in Denmark, Sweden and the USA, most recently as a professor at Valand. Most recently I have been the artistic director of the artist-run performance platform Skogen. I am currently based in Gothenburg after living and working for several years in Copenhagen, Los Angeles and Berlin.