Current exhibition
Jean Jacques Balzac
Postcards
08.11 - 08.12.2024
Opening November 8, 17-20
Båstadsgatan 4
SPARK proudly presents the first solo exhibition with Paris-based architect and AI artist Jean Jacques Balzac.
The images created by Jean Jacques Balzac are like a visual essay on a possible post-human condition; mysterious and hypnotic, colored by the characteristic ghostly haziness of AI-generated images. The richness of variations on these themes that he creates within his artistic practice is interesting in relation to our contemporary era, where aesthetics of doom and desolation are part of our daily image consumption.
"The closer an image gets to reality, the more a spectator can relate to what they see. What is essential is to keep at least one aesthetic element out of sync and in opposition to all the others, stretching or deforming it to the point by which the structure of its reality starts breaking.”
Jean Jacques Balzac is an alias created as an outlet for various experiment into generative AI. As he started getting interesting results using Midjourney, the instagram feed of JJB became the showcase of a relentless exploration into the fertile territory of the artificially directed reconfiguration of our collective image databases.
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In his exhibition at SPARK, he will present new experiments into moving image as well as a continuous flow of postcards base selected from the instagram feed. The images will be printed on site in the gallery and the visitors will be asked to write their own reflections of what they perceive. This way, the images will again be turned into text, completing the circle which started as a prompt dialogue between man and machine.
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instagram.com/jeanjacquesbalzac​
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On November 7th, SPARK will co-host a talk about Generative AI as a creative and critical tool with invited guests speakers: Artist David Selander, architect Peter Gustafson (TAOOD) and designer Ebba Lindgren.
Past exhibitions
Ingeborg Blom Andersskog
Moving Lines
09.06 – 2024.10.12
Opening September 6
SPARK Båstadsgatan 4
SPARK is happy to present a new solo exhibition by Ingeborg Blom Andersskog (NO), as we continue to investigate the relation between image and space.
Ingeborg Blom Andersskog works with drawing, installation and performance. The action of drawing together with time and materiality play an important role, where she and the material’s characteristics and limitations act as a frame. Inspired by the Slow Art philosophy, she uses repetition and creates rules that guide the development of the work. Through her work, she explores different ways of relating to the concept of time. In SPARK she will present three-dimensional drawings that invite to a spatial experience.
During Malmö Gallery Weekend, September 27-29, Ingeborg will give two performances in the gallery space.
Ingeborg Blom Andersskog has a Master of Fine art from Bergen Academy of Art and Design, Norway and a BA in specialised art, Ceramic dept Bergen KHiB. She is a member of Young Artist Society NBK, as well as of Performance Art Bergen PAB, and the international collective of young ceramic artists, Mother Tongue. Her work has been exhibited in Norway, Germany, Japan, Denmark and Canada.
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Amelia Vey Henry
4D Printed Architectural Textiles
24.05 - 02.06 2024
Opening Friday, May 24, 17.00-20.00
Seminar at 18.00
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4D Printed Architectural Textiles is a collection of research, design systems, and prototypes in creating digitally fabricated self-forming and self-supporting architectural composites. The prototypes are created via direct-to-textile robotic 3D printing of thermoplastics onto flat tensioned textiles, which then warp into 3D structures upon release. By experimenting with interdependent parameters such as material and print geometry, self-forming structural warping behavior can be pre-programmed into a textile, allowing the composites to “pop-up” into structural elements.
The exhibition explores the integration of technical additive manufacturing methods in architecture with the craft, tactility, and artistic expression of textiles, to propose a new material system that is adaptable and centered around the process of making. The collection of prototypes suggests a new way of viewing textiles in architecture and asks for a reconsideration of the binary structural divide between hard and soft materials within architectural fabrication. What role can soft materials have in architecture, and how can emerging technologies and manufacturing methods allow us to challenge the way we traditionally implement these materials?
Seminar and vernissage on May 22 at 18.00.
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Amelia Vey Henry (US/SE) is an architect and computational designer researching and developing the application of 4D printed structural textiles as a new architectural material via robotic direct-to-textile printing. She has previously instructed workshops in both 4D textile printing and traditional 3D printing, modeling and visualization.
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Workshop: 4D Printing Textiles
3D printing has already begun to revolutionize the world of architecture, forcing a consideration of the use of materials in architecture and their relationship with emerging technologies. 4D printing on textiles, though a relatively new use of 3D printing technology, presents great potential and insight into the architectural materials and processes of the future. 4D printing textiles is the process by which plastic is 3D printed onto a stretched textile that is later released, resulting in a 3D structural warping. By manipulating factors such as material, line thickness, and geometry, the warping can be controlled to create a wide array of applications; from deployable architectural structures and shelters for extreme environments, to softer textural interior architectural elements such as space dividers.
In this hands-on workshop led by Amelia Henry, participants will design and create their own 4D printed textile samples. The workshop will go through how to create 2D designs in Rhino3D, prepare them for the 3D printer, and ultimately print them out onto stretched textiles.
The workshop is open to those 16 years and older. No prior experience necessary, all materials provided, but a laptop and mouse are required.
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Location: Studio Max Gerthel, Kristianstadsgatan 16, Malmö
Date and time: May 26 12:30-17.30
Spots are limited. To register, email ameliaveyhenry@gmail.com to reserve your place.
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Djernes & Bell
Reparative Ecologies
08.03 - 04.05 2024
Opening Friday, March 8, 17.00-20.00
Introduction at 18.00
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Titled Reparative Ecologies, Djernes & Bell's exhibition advocates for the transformative potential of repair and maintenance in confronting the pervasive challenges of overconsumption, pollution, waste, and degenerative practices within our built environment. Through site based exploration, the exhibition emphasises the radical yet gentle impact of ‘making good’ as a new form of practice where repair and maintenance are primary design generators and material transformation connect us to landscape and life.

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Highlighted within the exhibition are three ongoing projects, each serving as a testament to Djernes & Bell's interdisciplinary approach. Central to all projects is a commitment to fostering a material ethic rooted in care, craftsmanship, and repair, nurturing environments where life can flourish, landscapes can thrive, and existing structures can be renewed.
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Hedeskov Center For Regenerative Practice
As an extension to the 40 year long reforestation and regenerative land-use practice of the Hedeskov client’s, Djernes & Bell have designed an ambitious regeneration, restoration and transformation of the former rural school. Based on principles of regenerative agriculture the project uses both heritage building craft techniques and new post-carbon locally available materials to repair and revive the main school building and ancillary buildings. Realdania has supported the project in data-collection on hygroscopic and off- gassing of biogenic materials in a restoration context, as well as an architectural-anthropological study on whether the translation of the regenerative philosophy can be felt in the building. The site- based material audit and clay material design have been done in collaboration with Local Works Studio.
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Harvest to House

Høst til Hus (Harvest to House) workshop was an investigation into the interface between agriculture and the built environment. In a hope of generating a new-narrative focussed on gentle land-use, material culture, carbon capture, ecological interconnectedness, deep-time and beauty. The seminar resultet in a short artistic film
by Nicholas Brooks with a speak by Emmy Laura Perez Fjalland and a cross-cultural thatched mock-up at Orbi Vraa. 

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Syd For Solen Bio-Romantic Follies

Inspired by the romantic garden layout of Søndermarken and the park's former garden pavilions, Djernes & Bell designed the pavilions for the music festival, Syd For Solen. Djernes & Bell invited artists and craftspersons working with bio-based materials to communicate the possibilities inherent in increased sensitivity to material connectedness and bioethics. Reusable scaffolding structures and scaffold fabric, local thatching long-reeds, and soil from the nearby Frederiksberg Have were used to construct the pavilions.



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Djernes & Bell, founded in 2020 by Jonas Djernes and Justine Bell, is an architectural practice based in Copenhagen with a special interest in what already exists: built, material, human, and natural. Djernes & Bell have extensive experience with adaptive reuse, restoration, and transformation of existing buildings and environments.
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Photos by Djernes & Bell (above, Hampus Berndtson (below)
ReVærk
1:1
2024/02/02 - 2024/03/03
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The exhibition 1:1 showcases ReVærk's interdisciplinary practice and highlights the studio's unique approach, where an interaction between drawing, material experiments, and mock-ups defines the final architecture. The title, 1:1, refers both to the exhibition's focus on 1:1 mock-ups and to the collection of the studio's selected experiments, which as a whole express their guiding method. ReVærk has relocated part of their workshop and their experiments, mock-ups, and tool collection to Malmö for the duration of the exhibition at SPARK.
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Trial as method
The exhibition presents a selection of ReVærk's collection of experiments and mock-ups developed in their own workshop in Aarhus. The work in the workshop is focused on the use of natural materials as well as recycled building materials. It includes the studio's work on the development of unfired clay soil as a building material and the repeated demand for innovative, concrete design and construction solutions with recycled building materials. The exhibition will manifest the possibilities of incorporating experiments and 1:1 mock-ups at an early stage in an architectural project. At ReVærk, the architect's role is both co-creative and with a deep understanding of tectonics, craftsmanship, material properties, and construction techniques.
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The Tension Between Studio and Workshop
ReVærk's vision is to create thoughtful, healthy, and natural solutions that bring tactility and experiential added value. To pursue this, ReVærk works as a synergistic parallel to its drawing practice, with the development and execution of material and construction solutions. In the development work, the studio uses its workshop as an experimental space, creating installations and prototypes. The aim is to bring the natural performance of materials into modern construction, and the significant inspiration repeatedly revealed is the historical architectural heritage.
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ReVærk Arkitektur was founded in 2017 by Simeon Bamford Østerlund and Mathias Nørgaard. Both are graduates of the Aarhus School of Architecture in 20161. ReVærk has received several grants for their investigative projects in material development, among other areas.
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Giuditta Vendrame
Unfinished Worlds
2023/12/01 - 2024/01/14
Opening December 1st 17-20
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SPARK is delighted to present a solo exhibition with Rotterdam-based Italian artist Giuditta Vendrame opening December 1st. The show will present the site-specific installation, Unfinished Worlds.
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We are largely accustomed to physical and political maps, leaving little space for other perspectives in our collective imagination. Geographical and political maps often contain overlooked elements. For Vendrame, the unobserved details include the subtle lines of parallels and meridians.
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The geographic coordinate system, established by Ptolemy, forms the basis for modern maps. According to geographer Franco Farinelli, this system domesticated the globe into space, a concept that considers any part as equivalent, whether land or sea. Maps have historically served as tools for spatial orientation and control, occupation, and colonization. Challenging this modern spatial concept, Giuditta Vendrame deconstructs and reinterprets maps and globes in her works. Using cobblestones and nails, she creates a link between the ordinary surfaces we navigate daily and the sky. The nails, resembling upward-pointing mini monuments, symbolize the 'set of points' derived from astronomical observations, forming new connections.
These dotted maps can be seen as Unfinished Worlds, offering an opportunity for imagination or to envision desired worlds. Vendrame transforms maps, atlases, and globes from tools of control into tools for imagination.
Unifinished Worlds was initially conceived as a site-specific installation at the Palm House in Villa Waldberta, Feldafing, within the framework of Artist in Residence Munich in cooperation with The Artist and the Others.
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Giuditta Vendrame intertwines art and design, navigating legal infrastructures in works that center on personhood, space, and mobility. In her installations, objects, works on paper, video and performances she deals with control of movement and the prevention of unwanted movement across different spatial scales. Vendrame challenges societal constructs by juxtaposing physical geography and natural forces, deconstructing and reconstructing worlds to transform perceptions of boundaries, territories, and movement.
Her artworks have been exhibited and presented in prominent exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, Walker Art Center, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven, RMIT Gallery Melbourne, OCAT Shenzhen, among other venues.
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Of Public Interest (OPI) Lab
Scores from Gröndal / Scores for Malmö
Scores from Gröndal / Scores for Malmö
Of Public Interest (OPI) Lab at SPARK
2023/10/20 - 2023/11/19
Open Door Session, Friday 20 October, 17:00 – 20:00
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Listening is not a reaction; it is a connection. Listening to a conversation or a story, we don’t so much respond as join in – become part of the action.
–Ursula K. Le Guin, “Telling is Listening”
Scores from Gröndal / Scores for Malmö presents a series of scores for active listening in relation to place, as an offering to people of the neighborhood around SPARK and its visitors. These gestures and guides take different starting points and lean on different senses, engaging multiple ways of seeing, listening, feeling and, in other forms, having an active dialogue with a place. In Of Public Interest (OPI) Lab’s working methodology, this is a vital foundation for developing – and making public – propositions for our common spaces.
Of Public Interest (OPI) Lab is a laboratory for artists, architects, landscape architects, curators and cultural producers. Asking ourselves the question ”what is of public interest?”, we work with artistic strategies and making to develop methodologies, propositions and projects for the spaces referred to as public. OPI Lab is founded by the artist Jonas Dahlberg and led together with curator Jasmine Hinks. One of its identities is that it operates as a one-year advanced course at the Institute for Research and Further Education in Architecture and Fine Art at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm.
Each year, a new group of practitioners meet one week a month at OPI Lab’s storefront space, located in the neighborhood of our case study Gröndal. The group develop new kinds of understandings, methods, works and propositions that come from listening to that place and being in dialogue with it. Our relation to this place and its inhabitants and context develops – through exploring what, who, where, how and why. Our positions in that context, our bodies, and relation to what we say and how we say it, changes through the slow process of understanding a place and the possibilities we might have to contribute with something there.
When SPARK invited OPI Lab to make an exhibition in Malmö, it highlighted how problematic it would be for our methodologies to share previous works that are specific to the context of a neighbourhood in Stockholm. Instead, this exhibition carries the traces of how participants of OPI Lab 2022/23 approached seeing, listening, feeling and imagining in relation to Gröndal.
Participants from Of Public Interest (OPI) Lab 2022/2023 that contributed to Scores from Gröndal / Scores for Malmö: Nicole Bitsch Pedersen, Elisabeth Brun, Ase Brunborg Lie, Johanna Fager, Jenna Jauhiainen, Gülbeden Kulbay, Alessandro Marchi, Samuel Michaelsson, Romea MuryÅ„, Alexandra Papademetriou, Jo Mikkel Sjaastad Huse, Elin Stampe.
Scores from Gröndal / Scores for Malmö has been curated by the leaders of OPI Lab: Jasmine Hinks and Jonas Dahlberg.
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