The Jacob Dahlgren Room
The Swedish artist Jacob Dahlgren has transformed Room 542 in the SSE main building at Sveavägen 65 into an art installation and a distinctive learning environment. The Jacob Dahlgren Room is the School’s third art classroom and seats 40 students.
Jacob Dahlgren is a Swedish artist born in 1970 and educated at the Royal Institute of Art. His work is characterized by the use of color, often arranged in stripes, squares, and abstract graphic patterns. Dahlgren frequently creates these patterns using ready-made objects such as pencils, coffee mugs, tiles, folding rules, measuring tape, and scales. In 2007, he represented Sweden at the Venice Biennale, where he presented an installation featuring a wall of dartboards and arrows for visitors to use.
In summer 2021, Dahlgren worked on Room 542, transforming it into the School’s third art classroom. The room continues to seat 40 students and is designed to enhance the quality of the learning environment.
There are several connections between Jacob Dahlgren’s work and the activities at SSE. Dahlgren often works with tools associated with measurement, and many of his visual patterns resemble charts, bars, tables, and other forms commonly used in business and research.
At the same time, both art and research can be abstract. Abstraction simplifies reality and changes how we interpret it. By removing elements, it allows us to highlight new perspectives and meanings. In academic research, the summary of a paper—known as an abstract—serves a similar purpose.
In September 2021, Art Initiative and Jacob Dahlgren organized a series of seminars titled Abstracts, exploring the concept and role of abstraction.
The striped artist.
Jacob Dahlgren is sometimes referred to as “the striped artist.” Since 2001, he has worn striped T-shirts every day as part of an ongoing performance titled Peinture Abstraite. He describes himself as a living exhibition and continues to integrate his everyday life with his artistic practice. His collection includes more than 1,500 striped T-shirts, which are carefully cataloged in his studio.
In 2019, Dahlgren collaborated with Acne Studios on the project Stripes by Jacob Dahlgren, which included knitwear, scarves, beanies, wallpaper, trays, and wool blankets.
Jacob Dahlgren is represented by Andréhn-Schiptjenko.
The Jacob Dahlgren Room was made possible through generous donations from Fabian Hielte, Lars Bane, Johan Thorell, and Erik Mitteregger.