SANNA SEVIKA HANSSON – Art & Design

Stockholm         +46-707-390389
Istanbul:         +90-536-9462979
New York:         +1-646-7158387
Everywhere:       sanna@sannasevikahansson.com

  “India-born, Sweden-raised, New York-based, my work is
   about identity, belonging and alienation, seeking to visualize
   social and cultural encounters in an increasingly globalized
   world. I explore how behavioural patterns and cultural traditions
   are reflected in the objects around us and how globalization
   affects national aesthetics. My process is about the synergy
   of art and science. Occupying the borderland between sculpture,
   design and installation, my artistic concepts always spring from
   considerable scientific research. Medium and material depend
   on the nature of my concepts, but always reflect a multi-layered
   synthesis of theoretical commentary, innovative solutions and
   pop-cultural references.”

    / Sanna Sevika Hansson

ART & DESIGN PROJECTS:

”Inga From Sweden” is a permanent art installation in Alicante, Spain,
commissioned by the EU. Seeking to investigate the complex realities
behind the trademark-like image of Sweden, Sanna created a plastic
sculpture of an Asian-born Swedish girl underneath a four meters long,
blonde hair full of hundreds of little black figurines.  The art
installation received great response for its daring social commentary
and challenge to the very idea of a national identity in relation to
belonging, alienation and racism.

For the art project ”Be Anywhere”, Sanna travelled for six months with
Anywhere (a migratory bird-like magazine stand of her own design)
visiting New York, São Paulo, Shanghai and Cairo - cities with the
world’s highest immigration rates.  At random, she stayed with a total
of 101 strangers, who were photographed in their homes with Anywhere,
which they could use in any way they found fit. These photographs,
exhibited in Beijing, Stockholm and Tokyo, investigate the interplay
of globalisation, cultural differences and contemporary acceptance of
other cultures.

”Realities in a Meeting” is an art project about multicultural
design. Following a study trip to her native India, Sanna designed a
collection of conceptual chairs, bringing together two radically
different design traditions. Emphasizing the concept of function –
meaning something practical in the Swedish tradition and something
spiritual in the Indian tradition – the chairs are four variations of
one formula: a very simple chair in light Scandinavian wood sparely
decorated with traditional Indian attributes. Since it’s inaugural
solo exhibition in Stockholm, the collection has been constantly
touring around Europe as part of a large number of group exhibitions.

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