ARTIST MUSICIAN WRITER

Leif Holmstrand

Secular Magic and Plausible Shamanistic Practices

Cut out all the faces from a daily newspaper. Leave them in the freezer for twenty-four hours. Dip the faces one by one into sugar glaze and dredge in flour. Fry them up and place them far apart from each other on a black table.

Acquiring Bodies

Acquiring Bodies / Avesta Art and Krognoshuset

Collect vintage baby carriages. Dismember some of them, and cook their parts with lots of spice in lots of fat. Apply improvised bandages. Make a pile or scatter.

The piece was completed 2015. Photos from Avesta Art: Therese Asplund. Photo from Krognoshuset in Lund: Grzegorz Fitał. Both events took place in 2017.

ASAMI KANNON CLOTHING

Asami Kannon Clothing / Ceremonial Silk Robe with Paracord Helmet

Stitch black Japanese obis together by hand into a one-piece. Crochet a sturdy, basketlike protection for your head. Add gloves, shoes and socks.

Made in 2016. Photo: Aamod and Sophelia Korhonen.

Awakening Film

Awakening Film (First Square) / Video Piece or Short Film

Perform a ritual. Enjoy a tangled and matted state of mind. Make a short black and white silent movie.

Awakening Film was completed in 2020. Supported by Råfilm, Panora, Konstfrämjandet and Fish Tank.

BREEDER COVERS

Breeder Covers / Full Sequence as Shown at Galleri Thomas Wallner

Crochet twenty-four black cotton objects on metal grids. Name them individually after slime mold species.

Completed 2018. Property of Malmö Art Museum. Photos: Grzegorz Fitał and Øystein Thorvaldsen.

CARDIO CAGE

Cardio Cage / Latest Version of a Vague Experience

When someone gives you a worrying doll, contain it in nightgown fabric. Place it on a small table. Decorate with jewelry and scrap. Remove decorations. Re-organize face and body with plasticine. Build a cage. Paint everything but plasticine and fabric. Everything should be black.

Completed 2018. Photo: Grzegorz Fitał

Debris Decorations

Debris Decorations for Several Occasions / Sculptures Props Clothes Wig

Find things, collect things, inherit things and steal things. Insert wool felted in a washing machine. Tie and crochet all of this together with hemp string, jute string, flax, bast, sisal. Or have someone give you a wig. Or crochet full coverage beautifully with jute string.

Medea's Dragon Chariot (2021), Hindenburg of the Bottomless Pit (2022), Returning the Gift (2023), Crocheted Jute Dress (2023), Wig (2023).

Holy Helpers

Holy Helpers / Fourteen Plague Saints or Self-Portraits

Paint your face and chest. Lie on your back on black garbage bags. Continue painting. Take a lot of photos. Use them to make digital collages inspired by medieval martyrs. Let their holy names crumble and grow.

These images were completed in 2018, and exhibited by Galleri Ping-Pong in Malmö the same year.

human behavior

Human Behavior / A Disarmed National Geographic Collection Becomes a Being

Stack National Geographics, some fabric and easily forgotten objects on a small table and crochet a yellow net structure with tentacles around it all to keep things restricted and safe.

Human Behavior was completed 2021 for the retrospective exhibition Ur djupet / From the Depth at Marabouparken Konsthall.

LARGE HANDICRAFT PIECE

Large Handicraft Piece / Possibly Without End

Use any yarn you can find. Crochet and knit. Work in front of an audience. Sit on the textile landscape while expanding it.

Initiated 1997, and in theory ongoing forever. Property of Malmö Art Museum. Photo: Jean-Babtiste Béranger.

NONSENSE TRANSLATION

Nonsense Translation / ZARYA A-i-R

Collect refuse and unwanted vintage clothes in Vladivostok guided by a new friend. Purchase rope, yarn, string, tape, cling wrap and other things. Use all of this during a hailstorm day, after a long night with lovers.

Performed at ZARYA Center for Contemporary Art in Vladivostok 2018. Photos by Vadim Martynenko.

NUGGETS OF NATURE

Nuggets of Nature / Spiraling on Grass with Materials

Collect things, trash, clothes, strings, yarn, packing material et cetera. Keep long and narrow objects, to prod with and to use as skeleton, close at hand. Build body around skeleton. But let material pass through the hanky net-costume you are wearing as well. Costume and body should sometimes slide together. Tie balls of scrap. Observe tension between outer body, cocoon-costume and the inner body via string, yarn or rope. Take advantage of skeleton-steadiness. Rotate, let things happen spirally. Let the inner body be unfamiliar to you, and try to act with all parts as independent as you can, despite that the net-costume-cover holds together and wants to unify. Leave space for improvisation and non prepared material. Be a moveable but slow multi-body-work for many hours. Leave behind a finished cultural object, if possible. Otherwise an unfinished one.

Performed at Marabouparken Konsthall in Stockholm/Sundbyberg 2021. Photos By Grzegorz Fitał.

POLYPS AND PEOPLE

Polyps and People / Hanging Creatures for Practical Purposes

Crochet doll parts, organs and beings from another plane of existence. Stuff them. Crochet hanging devices for them. Crochet cover for clothes rack. Crochet all as one, preferably while singing. Use during ceremonies and other fun events.

Crocheted 2021. Photo: Grzegorz Fitał.

Rope Cottage Hockey

Rope Cottage Hockey / Persbo Studio Sculpture Park

Add large amounts of polyurethane rope to a hockey goal and install the result in a forest. Watch plants and animals claim the sculpture.

Completed and installed 2018. Photos by Fredrik Strid.

Three Lovers

Three Lovers / A Fetus of a Different Species

Gather things. Handle garbage respectfully. Take care of your dead sister's stash of yarn and handicraft tools. Crochet a yellow dress. Perform a ritual to summon suitors and the dead, but avoid completion. Emortui requiescant.

Photos by Grzegorz Fitał. Event at Galleri 54 in Gothenburg 2020.

Curriculum Vitae

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Curse or Spell, Galleri Ping-Pong, Malmö (Sweden) 2022

Ur djupet (From the Depth), retrospective at Marabouparken Konsthall, Stockholm/Sundbyberg (Sweden) 2021

A Fetus of a Different Species, Galleri 54, Göteborg (Sweden) 2020

Cardio Cage, Galleri Thomas Wallner, Simris (Sweden) 2018-2019

Party Condolences, Galleri Format Oslo (Norway) 2018

Acquiring Bodies, Krognoshuset, Lund (Sweden) 2017

Bugchaser Party, Galleri Ping-Pong, Malmö (Sweden) 2016

Voyagers at Masquerade, House of Foundation, Moss (Norway) 2013

Headquarters, Galleri Thomas Wallner, Simris (Sweden) 2012

Leif Holmstrand, Lars Olsen Gallery, Copenhagen (Denmark) 2012

Lord of the Castle Itch Yes, Crystal Contemporary Art, Stockholm (Sweden) 2011

What the Others Knew, Johan Berggren Gallery, Malmö (Sweden) 2009

Leif Holmstrand, Växjö konsthall, Växjö (Sweden) 2009

Leif Holmstrand, Ystads Konstmuseum, Ystad (Sweden) 2004

In Memoriam, Galleri Mors Mössa, Gothenburg (Sweden) 2003

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Subterraenean, Amos Rex, Helsinki (Finland) 2022

(in)visible, Queer Perspectives, Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö (sweden) 2021

In Residence: From the Collection of Zarya Center for Contemporary Art, Vladivostok (Russia) 2019

Avesta Art 2017, Verket / Avesta Art (Sweden) 2017

Textila Undertexter (Textile Subtext), Marabouparken konsthall, Stockholm (Sweden) 2016 and at Malmö Konstmuseum / Malmö Art Museum 2017

EMAP 2016: Save Our Souls – Art for a Time of Urgencies, 9th Ewha international Media Art Presentation, Ewha Womans University Campus/Seodaemun District, Seoul (South Korea) 2016

The Beginning is Always Today: Scandinavian Feminist Art, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand (Norway) 2013

Sammen/Together, Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Trondheim (Norway) 2012

The Moderna Exhibition 2010, Moderna Museet, Stockholm (Sweden) 2010

Domestic Affairs, 1A Space, Hong Kong (China) 2009

Mot tiden (Against Time), Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (Sweden) 2007

Translation, Babel, Trondheim (Norway) 2007

Sydkraft, Galleri Loop, Berlin (Germany) 2005

Beskrivningar (Descriptions), IASPIS, Stockholm (Sweden) 2004

SELECTED HAPPENINGS / PERFORMANCES

Nuggets of Nature, Marabouparken Konsthall, Stockholm/Sundbyberg (Sweden) 2021

Sunday Morning Cranium Anus, Malmöhus Castle, Riddarsalen, Malmö (Sweden) 2020

Three Lovers, Galleri 54, Göteborg (Sweden) 2020

Going Like Elsie, small happening and ceremony in Kiyosumi-teien ryotei, Tokyo (Japan) 2019

Nonsense Translation, Zarya Center for Contemporary Art, Vladivostok (Russia) 2018

Asami Kannon / Whore, during Revolve Performance Art Days at Uppsala konstmuseum / Uppsala Art Museum (Sweden) 2017

Untitled, instructions performed irl by Karen Eide Bøen with the artist through mobile telephone in loudspeakers during Audiatur 2016 in Bergen (Norge) 2016

Fake Bones, cooperation with the Japanese artist collective OLTA at Lilith Performance Studio, Malmö (Sweden) 2015

Building a Better Body, during Re-Lay (a performance event initiated by Claudia Del Fierro), Inkonst, Malmö (Sweden) 2013.

This is True to Life, Den Frie Udstillingsbygning, Copenhagen (Denmark) 2011

Wearing the Territorial (Down), Baltic Circle and Q-Teatteri (Puoli-Q), Helsinki (Finland) 2010

Cabaret Sally Rattenmann, Lilith Performance Studio, Malmö (Sweden) 2008

Sally Rattenmann, Rosemary’s Baby and a Couple of Songs, AIT Room, Tokyo (Japan) 2005

Berlin Magic Model Project – Prostitution and Other Activities, three months in Mitte and Nollendorff Platz areas in Berlin (Germany) 1999

SELECTED BOOKS

Kartritartornet, novel, Pequod Press 2023

Inte världen (Not the World), poetry, Albert Bonniers Förlag 2022

Svalget (The Chasm), co-operation with Jonas Örtemark, experimental text or novel, Rojal Förlag 2021

Den fornegyptiska familjesolen (The Family Sun of Ancient Egypt), poetry, Pequod Press 2021

Herrarna och djuren (The Lords and the Beasts), poetry, Albert Bonniers Förlag 2020

Förkylningen (The Cold), novel, Pequod Press 2017

Sista dagen (The Last Day), poetry, Albert Bonniers Förlag 2016

Städer som inte är städer (Cities That Are Not Cities), novel, Albert Bonniers Förlag 2015

Tjuvklyftan (The Thief's Cleft), novel, Albert Bonniers Förlag 2013

Domningskanten (The Edge of Numbness), poetry, experimental text and short stories, Pequod Press 2012

Vad de andra visste (What the Others Knew), under the pseudonym Anna-Maria Ytterbom, poetry and prose, Oei editör 2010

Vid mardrömmens mål (At the Goal of the Nightmare), poetry, Albert Bonniers Förlag 2010

Myror (Ants), poetry, Albert Bonniers Förlag 2008

Går vidare i världen (Movin On Through the World), poetry, Albert Bonniers Förlag 2005

Stekelgång (Hymenopteran Path), poetry, Albert Bonniers Förlag 2002

RECORDS/SOUND/MUSIC

Born Without Hands, release by music collective/group, members: Samuel A.D. Martin, Maja Darkest Karlsson, Leif Holmstrand, available on Apple Music / iTunes, Spotify et cetera, 2022

PUUP MUSIC (The First Fifteen Years), available on iTunes, Spotify et cetera, 2020

The Second Purpose / The Purpose / Little Water Child / Helsinki, Bandcamp releases 2013-2014

Getting Rid of Me, double cassette (30:00, 2x15 minutes), Zeon Light 2012

Little Water Child, CD, 30:15, 2011

CURATORIAL WORK

Majd Abdel Hamid and Oscar Guermouche, duet exhibition at Krognoshuset in Lund (Sweden), co-curated with Isac Nordgren, 2016

Translation Theme Park (Japanese Contemporary Art), an exhibition with Chim↑Pom, Cobra Goodnight, Fumiko Kobayashi, OLTA, Pyuupiru, Sachiko Kazama, Sakiko Yamaoka, Yoko Asakai and Yuki Okumura; the exhibition venues were Galleri 21 and Galleri Ping-Pong in Malmö, and then Uppsala Art Museum (Sweden), 2014-2015

Games And Regulations, three exhibitions at Galleri Vita Kuben, Norrlandsoperan, Umeå during spring 2013, with the artists Jenny Grönvall (Sweden), Line Skywalker Karlström (Sweden), Ia Neumüller (Sweden), Majd Abdel Hamid (Palestine) and Yuki Okumura (Japan)

REPRESENTED AT

Museum of Modern Art / Moderna Museet (Sweden)

Zarya Center for Contemporary Art, Vladivostok (Russia)

Public Art Agency Sweden / Statens konstråd (Sweden)

Malmö Art Museum (Sweden)

Ystad Art Museum (Sweden)

Dalslands konstmuseum (Sweden)

SELECTED SCHOLARSHIPS AND PRIZES

Gunnar Ekelöf-priset (The Gunnar Ekelöf award) 2021

The Barbro Bäckström Award 2020

Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Asmund and Lizzie Arle’s prize 2020

Mare Kandre-priset (in memory of the Swedish author Mare Kandre) 2018

Svenska akademien / Stina och Erik Lundbergs stiftelse 2017

Ten-year grant from Konstnärsnämnden (The Swedish Arts Grants Committee) 2013

Kallebergerstipendiet from The Swedish Academy 2008

Edstrandska Stiftelsen (The Edstrand Foundation) 2006

ARTIST MUSICIAN WRITER

Leif Holmstrand

Secular Magic and Plausible Shamanistic Practices

Cut out all the faces from a daily newspaper. Leave them in the freezer for twenty-four hours. Dip the faces one by one into sugar glaze and dredge in flour. Fry them up and place them far apart from each other on a black table.

Acquiring Bodies

Acquiring Bodies / Avesta Art and Krognoshuset

Collect vintage baby carriages. Dismember some of them, and cook their parts with lots of spice in lots of fat. Apply improvised bandages. Make a pile or scatter.

The piece was completed 2015. Photos from Avesta Art: Therese Asplund. Photo from Krognoshuset in Lund: Grzegorz Fitał. Both events took place in 2017.

ASAMI KANNON CLOTHING

Asami Kannon Clothing / Ceremonial Silk Robe with Paracord Helmet

Stitch black Japanese obis together by hand into a one-piece. Crochet a sturdy, basketlike protection for your head. Add gloves, shoes and socks.

Made in 2016. Photo: Aamod and Sophelia Korhonen.

Awakening Film

Awakening Film (First Square) / Video Piece or Short Film

Perform a ritual. Enjoy a tangled and matted state of mind. Make a short black and white silent movie.

Awakening Film was completed in 2020. Supported by Råfilm, Panora, Konstfrämjandet and Fish Tank.

BREEDER COVERS

Breeder Covers / Full Sequence as Shown at Galleri Thomas Wallner

Crochet twenty-four black cotton objects on metal grids. Name them individually after slime mold species.

Completed 2018. Property of Malmö Art Museum. Photos: Grzegorz Fitał and Øystein Thorvaldsen.

CARDIO CAGE

Cardio Cage / Latest Version of a Vague Experience

When someone gives you a worrying doll, contain it in nightgown fabric. Place it on a small table. Decorate with jewelry and scrap. Remove decorations. Re-organize face and body with plasticine. Build a cage. Paint everything but plasticine and fabric. Everything should be black.

Completed 2018. Photo: Grzegorz Fitał

Debris Decorations

Debris Decorations for Several Occasions / Sculptures Props Clothes Wig

Find things, collect things, inherit things and steal things. Insert wool felted in a washing machine. Tie and crochet all of this together with hemp string, jute string, flax, bast, sisal. Or have someone give you a wig. Or crochet full coverage beautifully with jute string.

Medea's Dragon Chariot (2021), Hindenburg of the Bottomless Pit (2022), Returning the Gift (2023), Crocheted Jute Dress (2023), Wig (2023).

Holy Helpers

Holy Helpers / Fourteen Plague Saints or Self-Portraits

Paint your face and chest. Lie on your back on black garbage bags. Continue painting. Take a lot of photos. Use them to make digital collages inspired by medieval martyrs. Let their holy names crumble and grow.

These images were completed in 2018, and exhibited by Galleri Ping-Pong in Malmö the same year.

human behavior

Human Behavior / A Disarmed National Geographic Collection Becomes a Being

Stack National Geographics, some fabric and easily forgotten objects on a small table and crochet a yellow net structure with tentacles around it all to keep things restricted and safe.

Human Behavior was completed 2021 for the retrospective exhibition Ur djupet / From the Depth at Marabouparken Konsthall.

LARGE HANDICRAFT PIECE

Large Handicraft Piece / Possibly Without End

Use any yarn you can find. Crochet and knit. Work in front of an audience. Sit on the textile landscape while expanding it.

Initiated 1997, and in theory ongoing forever. Property of Malmö Art Museum. Photo: Jean-Babtiste Béranger.

NONSENSE TRANSLATION

Nonsense Translation / ZARYA A-i-R

Collect refuse and unwanted vintage clothes in Vladivostok guided by a new friend. Purchase rope, yarn, string, tape, cling wrap and other things. Use all of this during a hailstorm day, after a long night with lovers.

Performed at ZARYA Center for Contemporary Art in Vladivostok 2018. Photos by Vadim Martynenko.

NUGGETS OF NATURE

Nuggets of Nature / Spiraling on Grass with Materials

Performed at Marabouparken Konsthall in Stockholm/Sundbyberg 2021. Photos By Grzegorz Fitał.

POLYPS AND PEOPLE

Polyps and People / Hanging Creatures for Practical Purposes

Crochet doll parts, organs and beings from another plane of existence. Stuff them. Crochet hanging devices for them. Crochet cover for clothes rack. Crochet all as one, preferably while singing. Use during ceremonies and other fun events.

Crocheted 2021. Photo: Grzegorz Fitał.

Rope Cottage Hockey

Rope Cottage Hockey / Persbo Studio Sculpture Park

Add large amounts of polyurethane rope to a hockey goal and install the result in a forest. Watch plants and animals claim the sculpture.

Completed and installed 2018. Photos by Fredrik Strid.

Three Lovers

Three Lovers / A Fetus of a Different Species

Gather things. Handle garbage respectfully. Take care of your dead sister's stash of yarn and handicraft tools. Crochet a yellow dress. Perform a ritual to summon suitors and the dead, but avoid completion. Emortui requiescant.

Photos by Grzegorz Fitał. Event at Galleri 54 in Gothenburg 2020.

Curriculum Vitae

contact

Leif Holmstrand

Scheelegatan 2a

212 28 Malmö

Sweden

leif.o.holmstrand [a] gmail.com