Annika Ström

Since 2000 I have made texts on canvas, paper, on walls, on bags, in metall, in stone, on top of a roof, as 3D sculpture, as music, on posters, on pillows and on digital motorways signs.

On INSTAGRAM : annika strom100 you can see more text based work & my new 100 paintings One Hundred

I present here 12 performances.

I made my first performance work 1995 with my mother Anna Ström in Rupert Goldsworthy Gallery in Berlin:
Anna Ström & Annika Ström.
Since then I staged many performances with myself as a singer, singing my soundtrack with a simple Casio player.
I am not a musician.

Recent years I have hired actors to perform. They often act a very simple move or an emotion; for example standing in the way, being lovely or looking embarrassed.

Seven women standing in the way:
So far this performance has been staged 18 times by different women around Europe. The women are blocking an entrance of an art institution, being oblivious about their standing in the way. They stand together, they drink and chat during opening, oblivious about the fact that people trying to get into the museum. As soon anyone manage to pass and get in, they close the gap. The women are from age 65 and up.
This work is in the collection of Moderna Museet Stockholm & Trondheim Museum, Norway.

Ten Embarrassed Men was commissioned by Frieze Art projects and included ten men cruising the art fair together for five days, looking embarrassed for 8 hours a day. They were embarrassed by the lack of work made by women artists represented at the booths. This was staged 2010 and a lot has changed since then.

The inept Five is performed by recently graduated young drama students performing inept serving staff at my openings. They might act as themselves, as they fear to remain working at others artists big events, instead of acting on big stages, in films, fulfilling their dreams of acting.
This performance is in the collection of Leicester The Gallery & Moderna Museet Stockholm.

Six Lovely People is a good piece to have at your opening to lift the atmosphere even more. The actors who are acting lovely, have a number on the back of their jackets, so that they can easily be identified. They are asked to be lovely & are instructed not to talk or promote themselves. The first performance took place at ICA in London 2015 at fig-2 program curated by Fatos Ustek.

The Upset Man is an upset man entering the artspace being very upset with his partner on his mobile phone. He is oblivious about the public talk and the visitors around him. He has a script about a misunderstanding which he repeats.
First performance took place at the public space Temple bar & gallery in Dublin 2010.

At The Gallery in Leicester 2018, five of my performances played out all at once in fig futures. The film from that can be seen at Six Errands. In the end all of the 29 performers toured the gallery as if they were some olympic champions along with bombastic music and rised their flags, each flag representing the colour of the performing piece. The Gallery later produced a booklet about this piece called Six Errands.

Jönköpings Kammarkör sjunger texter av Annika Ström 2015
I was invited to Konsthall Jönköping in Sweden to do textworks in the city. 39 advertsboard throughout the small town, were covered with my phrases. Some were at the digital signs on the E4 motorway “You just missed it”. (du har ju åkt förbi)
With the different texts I also composed music, which the conductor Ove Gotting wrote down into notes and the 9 songs were performed by Jönköpings Chamber choir in the city of Jönköping (in Swedish).

Dirk The Stand in 1997
Dirk performs the songs from the film Artist Musical (1997) by Annika Ström on a "Artists perform Music Event" in Oslo at Rockerfeller Center 1997.
I couldn't go myself so I send Dirk, a professional opera singer to perform my songs.

I am thinking of red blue yellow and green 2017
Since I began painting the 100 paintings project I often think about colours. That is all I do. This performance was taken place in Janjina in Croatia at the Art Festival Veze Connections and included the local choir to sing a tune composed by me.

The Swede was performed by the Swedish Carina Westling, who lives since many years in UK. This performance, in a Berlin gallery later became a short film featuring Gunnel Lindblom. The film can bee seen under section Directed Shorts.

A woman standing inside an old building a woman standing outside a old buildingthis was for the 52nd October Salon Festival in Belgrade. This old building kept so much history so finally I just referred to it as “an old building”.
A piece about how we forget the history or forced to forget. The woman who didn't interact with anyone during the happy opening, just kept standing outside and inside, as if she kept the secret of the house and its history in herself, alone.

One Hundred Paintings made during
London lockdown 2020-2021.
I got on Instagram & posted each on there.
I focused on the titles & made a book where only the titles were displayed apart from one;
The Siblings disorganised Grief.
All Acrylic on Paper 122 cm X 153 cm.
A Pdf of all the 100 Paintings is available.

After a residency in Spitzbergen, an island far north, I made Ten new Love songs as my sound track for the film with the same name, which you can find under section Music for free download. This music I have performed a lot.
On a visit in LA, I made the Manuscript Song featuring Mary Goldman.
I finished my studies in Copenhagen with the Artist Musical which was one of the three “Artist films”; The Artistfilm and The Artist Live! made with my own soundtrack. The songs are available on Vinyl.

The film Windowpillow from 1995 I made at my arrival in Berlin. I produced several specially designed pillows for this habit, leaning out of the windows.
This habit is not common any more in Berlin but you might still find it in the very far East of Berlin. See more about this work under section Work 1995-2000.

My mother used to collect my early work. Here she shows her collection in the film Collector from 1998.

2010 I began to work with super8 and I made several films with my mother Anna Ström: I am in love, All my dreams have come true, Crystal Brain, Sunshine Head and I can hardly recognise myself.

I also did the films, I call The Abcent Films which all deals with been cut out of a film, missed something or a person is lost: The missed Concert, Been in Video (The After Film Trailer -which is yet to be uploaded).
Else there is Call for a demonstration a super8 film about the 5 year olds who demonstrated for a museum in Hove 2006.

The film The dying colour is another film in super8 format which I have screen together with the Sunshine Head and Crystal Brain.
Also 2004 I met The Kindest Artist in the world. The film includes the letter to Anna:

Dear Anna
How are you? Hope you are well -I am so happy!!!

I finally found him! His name is Jukka Korkeila and he is so kind!

One can say he is nice as well but as you know most artists are so slimy nice it seems as they all took charming classes along their art education. Well, finally I met this guy and he seems so kind you know I have been looking so hard for this person for years and to me it is so shocking that it actually turned out to be a man!

I must admit that I think I have been a bit unfair doing my research while I have been more focused on women as I have simply been thinking it must be a woman because in general women are better people, less violent etc. you know I have been looking so hard through the years so I have almost forgotten about the project! To be honest I had almost gave it up to find somebody, I looked everywhere: New York, Berlin, Beijing, Bangkok...and suddenly there, while slurping an excellent fish soup in a restaurant in Belgrade he sat next to me. He made me feel so calm. I have to say it have been hard years having do so much research and always try to look deep inside every artist. The nice thing when I told the other artists at the breakfast the next day, all were hangover and tired, I told them about my film project, all busted

-He is such a good pick! He seems so kind! He looks so kind!!!!

All agreed immediately to my choice (for a second I was thinking maybe someone would get jealous but I couldn’t see any track of that) and all raised up and congratulated me for finding him hugging me and really whished me good luck with the filming. I got tears in my eyes. I can’t wait for you to see the film!

I am sure you would also think he is the kindest artist in the world!

Miss you and hope to see you very soon,

Yours,

Annika

The first Show 5 min 1995/ 2017 was screened at Paul McDevitts independent space, Farbvision in Prenslaurberg, Berlin 2017.
This film is footage of my very first show in Berlin1995. I found the footage from 1995 of an opening of another independent gallery, Röller and Ravens, which was located in an apartment in Kreuzberg.
No artworks are featured in this film, but the gathering around the art.

At the opening at Farbvision 2017, I once again filmed the visitors, many of them I had managed to track down from the first show. That made the film To be shown in 22 years.

I have written a autobiographical novel in Swedish and I made 2018 a trailer using my footage from the 90s: Book trailer, I read the book.

Swedish for Immigrants SFI 2:30 Minutes 2023 is depicting the images from my mothers professional life as a teacher in the Swedish language.

Nothing/ ingenting and the Watercolor which is dripping down on the paper below are short films on super8 made 2012.

Dad is cooking Chicken Provencal To test my new camera I filmed my father born 1926, when he was cooking for me, at one of my visits.
A friend called the film “a thriller”.

Grant Year 1996 I formed a residency in my flat in Berlin for a frustrated, envious or uninspired artist. I had many applications from all over the world due to my ads for the grant in various magazines. Watch the film about the holder of the grant.

Windowpillow is a film about the pillows many East-Berliners used to have in their windows. This habit was very common in East Berlin where I moved 1993. Instead of going to the pubs you simply had a comfortable pillow on your window sill and had your drinks from there. I created these special pillows to fit the sill and your elbows. Watch the film of 13 minutes from a old Berlin.

I am so happy You are all here Acrylic paint on the Shopwindow at gallery 1% in Copenhagen 1998, included a performance where I did a sing along singing to my own soundtrack and film about me singing the song.

Cay -Sophie with the second Song. Casette tape and player with painted flowers, handmade blouse to keep the tapes secure. The Seconds song is a recorded studiohymn, a “hum” from my studio 1998 sang by me. Model: Cay-Sophie Rabinowitz.

The Missed concert and the kindest artist in the world was the name of a show I made at c/o Gerhardsen gallery 2005 in Berlin.

Copies at Lautom Contemporary in Oslo 2008 are the copies of in my view pointless paintings and drawings I have made and kept over the years. To “justify” them I copied them and throw away the original ones. Monica Ross helped me with the pressrelease which I copied onto a big piece of paper with a coffee stain, which was a copy of a stain from The Letter to Anna from 2005.

Grant for a Revolutionary 2000 I did a show with at Mary Goldmans gallery in LA and called for a revolutionary over 35 year old to win my bed and breakfast grant in Berlin. At the opening in a red circle marked on the floor the applicants could shout out their reason/ manifesto to come to Berlin and change things with their art.

Möbler för Festvåningen (Furnitures for the function room)
Sculptures made out of wood, black acrylic paint and Swedish embroideries, many of them made by my mother. All the titles of the sculptures are from my mothers political life as well as the radio programmes she used to listen to.

Look the other way commission by artSOUTH collaborations at Winchester Great hall. The textsculpure was displayed reversed. At the opening night a performance took place with singing students from the university.

Songs by Annika Ström performance, text works and screening of all my films at CAAC seville 2011.

NOW:

Phaidon Press:
Vitamin Txt: Words in Contemporary Art is now out where my work is included.

I published 3 Books with the French publisher onestar press.

Texts by Annika Ström (2004)
Call for a Demonstration (2006)
Annika Ström Live! (2008)

All can be downloaded for free on their web site.
www.onestarpress.com

Christophe Boutin, the designer of onestar press also designed
Six Errands (2019) published by De Montfort University Leicester, UK.

With onestar press I also did bookshelves for onestar press special editions. Still available. They made a Please help me bag and they have works of me for sale, such as works on paper. Visit them here:
http://www.onestarpress.com/artist/annika-stroem

You can find my complete bibliography under section C.V.
If you want to read what other people have written about me, please mail me and I send Pdfs.

Text in English follows below.

Dessa verk är i akryl på papper eller på duk. De flesta är på papper 100 cm x 70 cm. Kontakta mig om du vill veta mera om ett verk.

2015 komponerade jag musik till en kammarkör med mina fraser till Konsthall Jönköping. Ove Gotting, dirigenten för Jönköpings kammarkör skrev ner musiken. Filmen på framförandet av konserten kan ses under sektion Performance.
Du har ju åkt förbi Jönköping skrev jag också texter på digitala trafikskyltar på E4:an.

2014 satte jag fraser runt om på LUX på universitet i Lund i uppdrag av Statens Konstråd.
2021 På Nordstans Spårvagns station i Göteborg kan man se tre textverk permanent installerade på skärmtaken.

English:

LUX

Completed August 2014. Duration forever.

Commission by The Public art Agency of Sweden curated by Peter Hagdahl, for an extension and the unification of the humanities departments at Lund University, LUX. The building contains 9 text pieces scattered in and around the building.

Big, small, painted, cut out in steel and stone. The text pieces are all in Swedish. The biggest on the top of the roof dimension 10 meters x 1.20 meters, says men vänta nu  (but wait now, meaning: hold on a minute)others are; inte idag (not today) allt går så fort (everything is happens so fast) bara nu (only now) det går snart över (it will soon be alright) I alla fall inte här (at least not here) allt kommer nog att bli bra (everything might be alright) jag hinner inte med (I can't reach it, I can't make it in time)
Posters were made to announce the project at the new building, with texts as: men vänta nu, jag hinner inte med, inte idag.

2021 I produced three texts for the tram station Nordstan in Gothenburg. Permanent work , includes the texts någonstans härifrån, nu är du här, alla har tid.

Changing Room
13:00 min 2015

In the environment of a luxury shopping outlet the two friends gather around stories about fictional characters. Everything but shopping.
A film with Cecilia Frode (SE) and Camilla Corbett (UK) 
curated by Jack Tan, commissioned by Fatos Üstek 
at Fig-2 for Bicester Village, in association with Outset.

Camera Annika Summerson
Sound design Toby Griffin
Music by Mark E Brydon
Clapper & Assistant Jack Tan
Sound recording Matt Daniel
Written, edited and directed by Annika Ström
Filmed in Bicester Village 26th-27th of May 2015

Please mail me for password for the full view of the film

Svenskan /The Swede
13:22 min 2014
is the first part in the trilogy about a England based Swedish woman, visiting her home country and raving about England and their habits while she is hitchhiking with a woman through the countryside of Roslagen, Sweden.

The Debt ridden: GUNNEL LINDBLOM (the silence, the virgin spring)
The Swede: CARINA WESTLING 

Camera Annika Summerson
Editor Annika Ström/ Prano Bailey Bond
Colorist Darryn Mostyn
Sound design Toby Griffin
Music Akamu
Concept & Directed by Annika Ström

It is Ströms first directed short film. The film was made with generous support from Konstnärsnämnden, The Swedish Art Grant committee, Sweden

Please mail me for password for the full view of the film