NSW Art Run – Stockholm
Tie up your jogging shoes & experience the works of some of Swedens most talented young artists – while running! Nike Sportswear in cooperation with Gallery Steinsland Berliner present an unexpected event where art meets running during a jog through Stockholm’s inner city.
The run starts at the Six Feet Down retail space in the centre of town, where Swedish fashion designer Nhu Duong & Norwegian visual artist Hanne Lippard have transformed Nike’s Liberty collection in to talking flowers. Also displayed at Six Feet Down is photographer Kristian Bengtsson’s tribute to long distance running, inspired by Nike’s legendary V-series.
The route continues to Gamla Stan where you will be guided through some of Stockholms most exciting public artworks.
The Art Run finishes at the Sneakersnstuff store on Södermalm where Stockholm design bureau Byggstudion have created a colorful garden in form of the installation “Floriographic Garden” & artist Igor Zimmerman displays a playful “sprinter” piece inspired by sci-fi thoughts & topology.
Nhu Duong at SFD Sneaker Store
Nhu Duong is one of Swedish fashion design’s foremost newcomers. She presented her debut collection during the Stockholm fashion week in 2009 & won the Mercedes Benz Young Fashion Industry Awards that same year. Her design moves in between the avantgarde & commercial fashion. Beside her own projects she has created collections in collboration with Weekday, Svenskt Tenn & Faux/Real. Nhu Duong was also awarded H&M’s scholarship for Newcomer Of The Year during the Swedish Elle magazine Style Awards in 2010.
Based on Nike’s Liberty collection Nhu Duong has created a piece that plays on floral symbolics. It is an installation that goes beyond the decorative & romantic; researching the communicative strength of botany.
Together with Norwegian artist Hanne Lippard, Nhu Duong bases the installation on the language of flowers, “floriography”. Using sound, printed patterns & differently shaped objects, Hanne & Nhu give the flowers a voice of their own.
As an observer you become a part of the piece. Related to the installation are glass tubes filled with flower seeds to take with you, thus spreading the untold story of the flowers.
Kristian Bengtsson at SFD Sneaker Store
Kristian Bengtsson is a Swedish photographer & one of the founders art magazine & gallery Loyal. He also runs the newly started record label Bengtsson&Wirfält where he, together with cultural journalist Johan Wirfält, releases hand picked music on specially designed vinyl records. For the NSW Art Run Kristian has created a photographical piece inspired by long distance running; An installation built on a sense of freedom & the joy of running. “I wanted to visualize the joyful feeling you get from running & the sense of freedom in running really long distances. Over mountains & bridges, running up stairs & over open fields. I wanted to capture what I believe is an inspiration to everyone who runs. Not just what captures the eye but also the texture & surface of the enviroments you move through as you run.”
The piece is presented in nine edge-lit light panels exhibited both in the window display & in the store at Six Feet Down retail space.
The installations will be exhibited between May 12 & June 17. A free map of the NSW Art Run is available for download via www.facebook.com/nikesportswearsweden
