Accelerator
Stockholm University FrescativƤgen 26A
SE-106 91 Stockholm
Sweden
Goldin+Senneby: Flare-Up
Accelerator presents Flare-Up, a solo exhibition by Stockholm-based artist duo Goldin+Senneby. The exhibition focuses on issues of autoimmunity, accessibility, and ecology. Most of the works are created specifically for the exhibition and are shown together with related works from recent years. Large-scale installations, paintings, drawings and sculptures are presented across three rooms.
About the exhibition
The title of the exhibition,Ā Flare-Up, is based on the artistsā experience of living with multiple sclerosis (MS). When Jakob Senneby had his first flare-ups, doctors told him he had an āoveractive immune systemā and a ābody at war with itselfā. While he could never quite identify with such metaphors, they fit all the better with the immunosuppressive drugs offered by the pharmaceutical industry. These lucrative treatments can reduce the dramatic flare-ups but do little to slow the gradual deterioration over time.Ā Flare-UpĀ also alludes to the volatile and flammable nature of pine resin. Induced by injuries and infestations, resin acts as the treeās immune system. It recurs as material in several works at Accelerator.
The bark beetle plays a central role in this exhibition. The processes that bark beetles trigger in trees, ecosystems and the forest industry have informed several works, especially the two new installations,Ā Pheromone TrapsĀ (2025) andĀ Blue-Stain RampĀ (2025). Goldin+Senneby has built a ramp out of wood from spruces felled by bark beetles. The ramp leads visitors across a pond of resin and creates a new passageway between the rooms at Accelerator, making its different levels accessible. On the landing at the top of the ramp lies an excerpt from a forth-coming novel by fiction writer Katie Kitamura, which revolves around experiences of autoimmunity. The artists have collaborated with Kitamura since 2018.
Credits
Curator:Ā Richard Julin
Goldin+Sennebyās collaboration with Kitamura has been commissioned by the art and literature journal Triple Canopy, which has published excerpts from the novel and presented several manifestations of the work since 2020. The project has been funded by the Swedish Research Council (Crying Pine Tree, 2020-2024) with the Royal Institute of Art as host institution, along with additional support from a studio grant at Amant, New York (2022).
Accelerator has collaborated with the Anthropocene Laboratory at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 2023. Goldin+Senneby are the first artists to be invited to take part in the labās activities and research. The collaboration has resulted in the new series of worksĀ After LandscapeĀ (2024-2025).
Thanks to Uppsala Art Museum.
The artists would like to thank Fernando CƔceres, Sarali Borg, Sara Ekholm Eriksson, Johan Hjerpe, Ingrid Blix, Mattias Sparf and Hangmen.
