The artist Björn Lövin in is film o the Memory of a Great Man

Björn Lövin, Filmstill from To the Memory of a Great Man, 1972 © Björn Lövin © Lars Svanberg

Biography Björn Lövin

Björn Lövin’s multi-faceted body of work consists of installations, paintings, sculptures, texts and videos. Through his environments, which have previously been presented at institutions such as Moderna Museet (Stockholm), Centre Pompidou (Paris) and Kulturhuset (Stockholm), he became one of Sweden’s first installation artists.

From the 1970s onwards, Björn Lövin continuously explored changes in society by revealing the gap between welfare and consumer society and marginalised groups, while probing the relationship between the individual and the collective, between image and reality, as well as what emerges when they meet and the lines between them are erased.

Lövin’s practice was marked by a constant, almost archaeological investigation and idea-driven approach, which often formed the basis of his environments.

Björn Lövin was born in Falun in 1937. In his youth he studied in Barcelona, later attending Stockholm University and Uppsala University to study education, scientific theory and information technology. Despite his lack of formal artistic training, he had his first exhibition at Galleri Mejan in 1970, an early version of the more comprehensive exhibition Consumer in Infinity and “Mr P’s Hoard”. Two environments by Björn Lövin that was presented at Moderna Museet the following year.

Lövin was also active as a guest lecturer at the Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm in the 1970s and 1980s.

Björn Lövin, Installation view L’Image – Exposition de Björn Lövin pour International Life Assurance Company ILAC, Centre Pompidou, 1981 © Björn Lövin Photo: Mats B

Lövin’s solo exhibitions include 441/=P (Galleri Mejan, Stockholm, 1970), Consumer in Infinity and “Mr P’s Hoard”. Two environments by Björn Lövin (Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 1971), In Memoriam (Göteborgs Konsthall, Liljevalchs konsthall, 1972–1973), Failed Memory (Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1977), L’Image – Exposition de Björn Lövin pour International Life Assurance Company ILAC (Centre Pompidou, Paris, 1981), About the Personal (Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 1987), C – The Struggle for Reality (Kulturhuset, Stockholm; Malmö Konsthall, 1988; Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense [DK]; Galleria Otso, Espoo [FI]; Kulturhuset, Saint Petersburg [RU]; Linköpings Konsthall, 1989–1991); Möten med vatten (Galleri Göran Engström, Stockholm, 2004) and Focus on: Mr P, Dr Löwenskjöld and Björn Lövin (Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 2004).

Lövin participated in several group exhibitions including Live Show (Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 1974), Live Show II (Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, 1977), Ibid II (Münchenbryggeriet, Stockholm, 1982), Korrespondenser – ett samtal med Baudelaire (Swedish Exhibition Agency, 1987), Equinox: Aspects of Swedish Contemporary Art (The Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta, 1989), Arte Amazonas (Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, 1992), Klima Global/ Arte Amazonas (Staatliche Kunsthalle, Berlin; Kunsthalle Siemens, Dresden; Ludwig Forum, Aachen, 1993–1994), Revir (Kulturhuset, Stockholm, 1994), Alone Together (Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm, 1996); Avesta Art (Avesta, 1997), Hemort – Chez Nous (Gallery of Athens, Athens; Dalarnas museum, Falun; Chartreuse de Mélan, Taninges, 1999), History Acts (Göteborgs Konsthall, 2008), Svensk konceptkonst (Kalmar konstmuseum, 2010), Image at Work (Index Foundation, Stockholm, 2010), The Moderna Exhibition – Society Acts (Moderna Museet, Malmö, 2014), Samhällsmaskinen – industriåldern ur konstens perspektiv (Malmö Konstmuseum, 2016).

Björn Lövin is represented in the collections of Moderna Museet, the Public Art Agency Sweden and Verket Avesta.

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