Still lives 11, 2008, by Maria Friberg

Thielska (The Thiel Gallery) invited the artist Maria Friberg to initiate a dialogue between her practice and the Gallery’s own collections. Friberg was free to choose works from the collection - created by Ernest and Signe Thiel around the previous turn of the century - and to mirror them in a selection of her own photographs and video works. The museum´s collection is dominated by male artists and portraits. In Maria Friberg´s art, men often assume poses that are traditionally female; they are passive, vulnerable, lost, and pleasing to the eye. The assumption that male and female are opposites is challenged.

Almost There identifies the gap that exists between then and now. So much has changed, but a lot is the same.

SSE has three artworks by Maria Friberg in the permanent collection: Alongside Us #2 (in room Estrid in the Presidents office), Changed Position in the northern staircase (the man sitting on a pile of shirts) and Somewhere else in the Board Room. We also screened Somewhere else - the video version - on the big screen in the atrium in the fall of 2023.

Thielska galleriet was the private home of Ernest Thiel (1859-1947), a banker, patron and art collector who lived in the house until 1924 when the gallery was acquired by the Swedish state. The museum houses Thiels´ collection. It has been open to the public since 1926. The house, built between 1904 and 1907, was designed in the Art Nouveau style by the famous Swedish architect Ferdinand Boberg.

Welcome to join Art Initiaive for a tour in the beautiful museum on February 7, 17-18. Sign up, spots are limited.

Bus 67 leaves from the bus stop Stadsbiblioteket at 16.05 or 16.20, going directly to the museum (bus stop Thielska galleriet).

Sign up here. Spots are limited (to 25).