Bigert & Bergström: Weather Conditions

Bigert & Bergström - Weather Conditions

The exhibition "Weather Conditions" by the Swedish artist duo Bigert & Bergström presents artworks that explore the complex relationship between weather, climate, and people from an artistic perspective.

For nearly 30 years, Mats Bigert and Lars Bergström have been working at the intersection of art and science, addressing questions related to climate change and its social implications. Art serves as a testing ground for them, offering the opportunity to explore current issues beyond their scientific boundaries. Bigert & Bergström are interested in how science is communicated and aim to engage viewers on multiple sensory levels with their art. Through monumental installations, interactive sculptures, performances, and spectacular geoengineering projects, the artists have gained international recognition.

Their works typically combine the visual language of science with artistic expressions. For example, meteorological symbols intersect with impressive nature photographs, or sculptures reference the form of molecules. Their artistic language is characterized by curiosity and a love for experimenting with various materials and technical challenges. By visually making complex questions accessible with humor rather than a raised finger, Bigert & Bergström encourage viewers to playfully reflect on intricate relationships. Their comprehensive projects often require years of research, close collaboration with researchers and institutions, as well as a complete team for execution. They result in temporary or permanent monumental works, usually designed for public contexts, and related series of works.

The exhibition 'Weather Conditions' presents works from the years 2013-2023. The selection from various series provides an insight into the diverse work of Bigert & Bergström and includes, among other things, sculptures in glass and bronze, as well as an installation with a 'real' polar bear. Also on display are photographic works, luminous spheres and the film 'The Freeze' about a geoengineering project at the summit of Kebnekaise.

Mats Bigert and Lars Bergström have been working together since 1986 and are among the most important contemporary Swedish artists. Their works have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide since the 1990s and have been featured in biennials, including the Biennale di Venezia (Venice), Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwartskunst (Berlin), Wilhelm-Hack-Museum (Ludwigshafen), Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum, Artipelag (Stockholm), Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen), and Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (Ridgefield, USA). In 2022, the massive performance sculpture "Tipping Point" was installed in the centrally located Djurgården Park in Stockholm. A comprehensive solo exhibition followed in 2023 at the Kunsthalle Skellefteå, in which the Crystal Forest glass sculptures presented in Munich, were shown for the first time. Among their most well-known recent works is the "Solar Egg," a golden, egg-shaped sauna. Originally designed for the residents of the mining town of Kiruna, the Solar Egg was exhibited worldwide and is now in the collection of the Artipelag Art Museum. In August 2023, the land art installation "Sensing the Arctic" was inaugurated in Abisko, created in collaboration with the Climate Impacts Research Center at Umeå University. In parallel with the "Weather Conditions" exhibition, Bigert & Bergström are also featured in the group exhibition "Solar Breath – Knowing Where the Wind Blows" at the ERES Foundation in Munich in the fall of 2023.