Curator Mats Stjernstedt and artist Pia Sandström on Discussion about New Strategies in Contemporary Art on Thursday, January 14, at 7pm in the Cable Gallery

Director of Index Gallery Mats Stjernstedt together with the founder of Labyrint Press, artist Pia Sandström (Stockholm) discuss new strategies in contemporary art, held Thursday, January 14th, in the Cable Gallery. Throughout 2009 Index has organised projects and solo exhibitions with Sean Snyder, Mladen Stilinovic, Alevtina Kakhidze, Susan Hiller and Goldin+Senneby. The year 2010 Index will introduce Dora García, the artist collaboration Joao Gusmao & Pedro Paiva, and Marcel Broodthaers, amongst others, presented towards a Swedish audience. Index is an independent art space own and run by – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation. Annually Index produces exhibitions and projects inside/outside of its gallery space and in addition the organisation seeks to promote artistic expressions in various forms e.g. screenings, performances, and workshops to influence the programme with a certain mobility.

Artist Pia Sandström introduces Labyrint 09 – Writings and Observations exhibition ongoing from 7 November 2009 – mid March 2010 in Botkyrka Konsthall, Stockholm. More than 300 artist’s books are presented, also including text art and sound works in relation to writing. The exhibition focuses on using these tools as a way of altering the perception of the world.

Labyrint Press started working with artist’s books through the exhibition Labyrint in 2006, an extensive circular library of international artist’s books. The publishing house was founded shortly thereafter. Labyrint now works as an exhibition, a publishing firm and an archive and currently runs as a satellite to Botkyrka Konsthall outside Stockholm. The entire project is a collaboration between Joanna Sandell, curator and Pia Sandström, artist.

– We asked artists to share their early working processes and new methods with us. The exhibition consists of a fantastic and unusual array of texts, filled with anarchy and thought provoking experiments, say the curators of Labyrint, Joanna Sandell and Pia Sandström.

Pia Sandström is currently a HIAP artist-in-residence at the Cable Factory. Her works are often text based and commences its startingpoint from an interest in social relations and how the surrounding world affects the human. Mats Stjernstedt is a curator residing in HIAP Suomenlinna.