Charlotte Johannesson

Charlotte Johannesson (b. 1943, Malmö, Sweden) lives and works in Skanör, Sweden. Her practice involves working with both the craft technology of the loom and the digital technology of computer programming, exploring their formal and conceptual connections. Trained as a weaver, Johannesson began creating tapestries as art in the 1970s, work that often satirised mainstream politics. In 1978, funded by The National Swedish Board for Technology and Development, she established the Digital Theatre with her partner, Sture Johannesson, in Malmö, Sweden. As Scandinavia’s first digital arts laboratory, the Digital Theatre functioned as an independent platform for both research and artistic projects and has been described as one of the most advanced Apple systems of its time, consisting of seven computers, printers, monitors and synthesisers. From these early experiments across textile and technology, Johannesson’s practice has developed to encompass a range of media including: weaving, painting, digital print and digital slideshows. Across these media, Johannesson continues to challenge the conditions of image-making and to enhance the synchronicity between material and digital production. 

A survey exhibition of Johannesson’s work, Take Me to Another World, opened at Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, 2021, curated by Mats Stjernstedt and Lars Bang Larsen. In July 2022, Johannesson will present a solo exhibition at Badischer Kunstverein, followed by a major monographic exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary in February 2023. Johannesson’s work has been exhibited internationally, including The 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, The Milk of Dreams, Venice, Italy; HEM (HOME), Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, Sweden; Unweaving the binary code — Hannah Ryggen Triennale, Kunsthall Trondheim, Trondheim, Norway (all 2022); Our Silver City, 2094, Nottingham Contemporary, UK (2021); The Blazing World, S|2 Gallery, Sotheby’s, London (2019); Mud Muses, Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2019); Still I Rise: Feminisms, Gender, Resistance, Act 2, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, UK (2019); pressure | imprint, Malmö Konsthall, Sweden (2018); Nordic Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2017); 32nd São Paulo Biennale (2016); Textila Undertexter, Marabouparken Konsthall, Sweden (2016); The Society without Qualities, Tensta Konsthall, Spånga, Sweden (2013); Forms of Resistance, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands (2007); and Pyramid of Mars, Barbican Centre, London, and Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, and Trapholt Museum, Kolding, Denmark (2000).

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