The Extracurriculars: Madeleine Andersson

Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit

19.9 2025

Stockholm

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In the third part of the programme series “The Extracurriculars,” we explore the intersection of science and pop culture through Madeleine Andersson’s lecture performance “Toilet Science and The Rise of Sewer Protestantism.”

We live in a time when it can be difficult to understand even the most basic phenomena around us. What exactly is that thing, what is its function and why does it exist in the first place? Some toilet enthusiasts, for example, argue that civilisation did not begin with written language, but with the first toilet.

“Toilet Science and The Rise of Sewer Protestantism” tells a speculative story about how our bodies were connected to the sewage system, how our minds were shaped by the modern invention of waste management and how our souls underwent a profound spiritual restructuring as a result of the power regimes that governed our bodies’ excretions.

“Toilet Science and The Rise of Sewer Protestantism” is written by Madeleine Andersson and Mandus Ridefelt.

The Extracurriculars: Madeleine Andersson

Mike Kelley: Ghost and Spirit

Date

Friday 19 September 2025

Time

18-19

Place

Auditorium, floor 2

Language

English

Price

Free admission, pre-registration required

Registration

Contact: Alexander Kateb, Moderna Museet

Madeleine Andersson

In her practice, Madeleine Andersson works with alternative historicizations and speculative structures, to make visible and disrupt the psychosocial dimensions of knowledge production. Her interdisciplinary works in video, sculpture and performance merge academic language, scientific instruments, pseudoscientific enthusiasm, social media and horror movies into playful installations.

Madeleine Andersson has previously exhibited at Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation in Stockholm (2025), The documenta Institute in Kassel (2024), O–Overgaden in Copenhagen (2024), Färgfabriken in Stockholm (2023), NSFW in Gothenburg (2023), ArtVilnius22 in Vilnius (2022) and Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen (2022).

THE EXTRACURRICULARS

The programme series “The Extracurriculars” is arranged in connection with the exhibition “Mike Kelley – Ghost and Spirit” at Moderna Museet.

On each occasion, an artist is invited to encounter Mike Kelley’s art through their own practice. The series reflects the influence of Mike Kelley’s art on generations of artists in different media and practices.

29 August 2025: Lisa Tan
12 September 2025: Jill Mulleady
19 September 2025: Madeleine Andersson
11 October 2025: Michael Portnoy (More information and registration link coming soon)

The title, “The Extracurriculars”, is taken from one of Mike Kelley’s iconic and unfinished series – “Extracurricular Activity Projective Reconstruction”, which can be seen in the exhibition. Here, Mike Kelley uses performance and design to explore themes such as memory, repression and taboo.

“Extracurricular activity” can be translated as “activities outside the schedule” and is part of the American high school environment – a recurring motif in today’s pop culture, rife with clichés, teenage angst and trauma.

“The Extracurriculars” is a collaboration with Klubb Moderna.