Johanna Gustafsson Fürst awarded the 2017 Friends of Moderna Museet Sculpture Prize

Johanna Gustafsson Fürst (born 1973) lives and works in Stockholm. She is an MFA graduate (2003) from the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm and is currently a lecturer at the Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design. In her practice, Gustafsson Fürst explores the individual in relation to the world – quotidian life in relation to social structures, hierarchies and political systems. Her works are often in the form of sculptural assemblages, but also in text, performances and site-specific installations.

The jury’s motivation

”Johanna Gustafsson Fürst’s sculptural works have an air of inevitability, even though it is impossible to comprehend why they have to be the way they are. She never flinches from doing something very intricate. She challenges the materials, their properties and common uses, in order to create an inverted, suspended, not to say unyielding, sculptural otherness. While apparently working with the basic elements of sculpture, her objects are not solely made to be perceived in physical space. Their shapes tend to bring the viewer to a standstill, often even blocking the way. The sculptures seem intent on establishing a language of their own with the viewer; there is an unrelenting friction, which seeks to insert itself between the specific physicality of the works and the viewer’s own wordless sensibility. On the other hand, this relationship is inscribed in a social space, making her more performative and relational works social sculptures. Her objects are primarily starting points for movements in the mass within and around us.”

The jury of 2017

This year’s jury consisted of the Director of Moderna Museet, Daniel Birnbaum, the curator and writer Stefanie Hessler, the curator and art critic Lars-Erik Hjertström Lappalainen, the artist Kristina Jansson, and Lena Josefsson, Chairman of Friends of Moderna Museet. It is with great pleasure we award the 2017 Sculpture Award to Johanna Gustafsson Fürst.

About the Sculpture Award

The Friends of Moderna Museet Sculpture Award – the K-A Lind Honorary Award was set up by the textile artist Sigrid Lind in memory of her parents, Karl August and Kristina Amalia Lind. The memorial fund is managed by the Friends of Moderna Museet, and the award is awarded every two years. The Friends of Moderna Museet Sculpture Award – the K.A. Lind Honorary Award is given to ”the best Swedish sculptor in need” and was awarded for the first time in 1950 to the artist Elis Eriksson. Since then, the award has gone to many of our most famous and skilful artists, including Arne Jones, Lars Englund, Sivert Lindblom, Ulf Rollof, Eva Löfdahl, Dan Wolgers, Ebba Matz, Lars Nilsson, Carin Ellberg, Truls Melin, Ann-Sofie Sidén, Sofia Hultén, Klara Lidén and, most recently Christian Partos 2015.

About the Friends: Friends of Moderna Museet