Clouds, Bubbles and Stars

Peter Hagdahl’s temporary exhibition Clouds, Bubbles and Stars combines three site-specific works displayed in the atrium and entrance of the Stockholm School of Economics.

Together, the works examine natural disasters, economic bubbles, political events and algorithmically selected news. They invite viewers to consider how information is received, interpreted and assessed in a world shaped by markets, nature, digital systems and social media.

In its entirety, the exhibition visualizes the struggle to symbolically capture an increasingly complex world in flux - and the interactions between the forces that constitute it.

In this work, we face an associative mind map composed of written text, symbols, pie charts, graphs, and vectors indicating forces and events that evoke societal change. Hagdahl invites the viewer to establish relationships between natural disasters, economic bubbles, and political events. The work illustrates the uncertainty of today’s world, caused by disruptions in markets as well as in nature.

Projected on the atrium screen, Star presents a burning sun evolving into different shapes and colours. Its constantly changing image suggests enigmatic energies and transformations that resist stable interpretation.

The third work consists of projections in the main entrance at SSE. Algorithmically selected news from the internet flows across one wall, almost too quickly to be read. Another algorithm marks each item with “yes” or “no” according to its assessed degree of positivity.

The work sheds light on the overwhelming flow of information surrounding us and the algorithmically selected news encountered through social media. It invites reflection on how we receive, read and assess information generated through “the cloud”, which appears as a moving image projected on the opposite wall.

Peter Hagdahl (born 1956) is a Swedish artist based in Stockholm. He studied at Valand Academy in Gothenburg and at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York.

Hagdahl is a pioneer of Swedish new media art. He co-founded the Creative Room for Art and Computing and has taught at Konstfack and the Royal Institute of Art, where he was Professor of Fine Art with a specialization in new media. He has also conducted research at the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences at Stockholm University and Mejan Labs.

His art develops through interactive processes, dialogue and collaboration with fields including cultural theory, informatics, urbanism and science. Across painting, sculpture, moving image, programming and installation, he explores unstable systems and the relationships between people, technology, information and their surroundings.

Alongside his artistic practice, Hagdahl has worked as a curator at the Public Art Agency Sweden. His work has been exhibited widely in Scandinavia and internationally and is represented in several public collections, including Moderna Museet in Stockholm.