SPARK is a collaborative platform located in Malmö, Sweden with the purpose of strengthening the interface between architecture, art, research, and societal advancement through exhibitions and lectures. The aim is to promote artistic processes in architecture and urban development by activating intersections between art, architecture, urban design, and landscape architecture.

SPARK aims at exhibiting works that provokes critical discourse in current city building through explorative, experimental, trans- and interdisciplinary practices. SPARK collaborates with Lund University Department of Architectrue and the Built Environment, Architects Sweden Skåne, and Molekyl Gallery.

Exhibitions

Upcoming exhibition

John Håkansson
The Architecture of Peter Celsing

John Håkansson

The Architecture of Peter Celsing

10.04—24.05 2026

Opening Friday April 10, 17-20

Båstadsgatan 4, Malmö

In the exhibition at SPARK, artist John Håkansson presents black-and-white photographs of Peter Celsing's architecture. The images, photographed in the mid-1990s, constitute a valuable historical document, as some of the buildings have changed in the intervening years. A large selection has been published in a newly released book, issued by the Swiss publisher Park Books. In addition to John's photographs, it includes essays by architect Staffan Henriksson and artist Maria Lantz. The book is also presented in the exhibition in the form of a special edition, with a handmade box and an enclosed silver gelatin photograph. In the exhibition, John also shows a new building-like object made from reclaimed wood and wool yarn.

Peter Celsing (1920–74) developed an architecture that unites functionalism with artistic rigour. His approach to commissions reveals a deep understanding of architecture as an art form in which function and economy are held in balance. Even as the construction industry shifted from the more small-scale and craft-based to the large-scale and prefabricated, Celsing nonetheless achieved the feat of pursuing his projects with a high degree of artistic integrity — whether they were purely utilitarian undertakings such as metro stations, sacred spaces such as churches, or prestige buildings such as Kulturhuset or the Swedish Riksbank.

During the opening, a special edition of the book will be available for purchase. It includes a custom-made box and a silver gelatin photograph by John Håkansson.

Architecture by Peter Celsing

Photographed by John Håkansson

Size: 240 x 310 mm

Pages: 168

Format: Hardcover bound

Illustrations: 103 black and white photographs

Language: English

Editors: John Håkansson, Agneta Eriksson, Weronica Ronnefalk

Introduction by: John Håkansson

Essays: Staffan Henriksson, Maria Lantz

Design: John Håkansson

Publisher: Park Books