The stair-like forms in the image are inspired by the church tower in Torshälla, where I grew up, and by the sculpture by Arne Jones located in the square below. I have climbed the twin spiral staircases many times, which converge at the top. The title of this work, Stairway To Heaven, is borrowed from there.

Stacked one upon another, the sculpture could, in principle, rise endlessly skyward, echoing Brancusi’s Endless Column—the perpetual motion and innovation of Modernism mirror socialism’s striving toward a classless society. In the Nordic countries, the dominance of social democracy throughout the 20th century gave rise to a society with universal access to healthcare and education. Yet the promise of human emancipation halted there, its burden shifted onto the individual.

My own family was among the many who traversed the boundaries of class within just a few generations. The sense of safety and trust I grew up with was essential in enabling me to choose a career as an artist. One might view this act of self-realisation as the terminus of the journey. Yet, in truth, the class journey is a liberal project—most clearly embodied in the notion of the “American Dream,” where each person is believed to be the maker of their own fortune.

Today, neoliberal ideology has worn away much of the equality that shaped my upbringing. The freedom to choose a future without regard to its economic consequences is now reserved for the privileged. What became of the vision of a society in which anyone might decide to become an artist? A society where this possibility belongs not only to those with exceptional strength and resources, but to all.

See a work-in-progress video here and here. See a video presentation here.

The series features works with an appendix placed on top of the work or close to it. This object is exterior to the image plane, the illusionary "window" in the picture, but is still an intrinsic part of the whole. It connects or makes visible the two dimensions of an artwork - its inner logic and its relation to its surrounding.
The title references the famous Coca-Cola campaign and Immanuel Kant's notion of the thing in itself. It means that subjects can only experience the phenomena as they present themselves through perception. It is always fundamentally different from what the things are outside language boundaries - in themselves.

Res Ipsa is a compilation of works made by an act shaping the filler once it is prepared inside the frame. The works thus function as a recording device and give a statement of the event taking place while the filler was still wet.

Res Ipsa is Latin for "the thing itself" and is part of the juridical term "Res ipsa loquitur" (the thing speaks for itself), used when an injury or accident in itself clearly shows who is responsible, such as an instrument left inside a body after surgery.