August Eriksson: Var uppmärksam /Handelshögskolan

In fall 2020, Art Initiative opened the semester with August Eriksson’s work Var uppmärksam / Pay attention displayed on the main entrance doors of the School. Eriksson invites viewers to pay attention—but to what? Perhaps to attention itself.

Eriksson has also placed Var uppmärksam (Pay attention) signs in other locations and installed signs with different messages in public spaces across Stockholm.

In January 2022, the photographic work Var uppmärksam / Handelshögskolan (2020) became part of the SSE Permanent Collection.

The work emerges through the relationship between the sign and its surroundings. Traffic signs are designed to communicate direct, unambiguous, and easily understood messages. August Eriksson uses this visual language of public instruction to express something more open-ended, demanding, and existential. What deserves our attention in a time of constant information, possibilities, and distraction?

August Eriksson’s artistic practice is rooted in photography while also extending into other media. His work explores the relationship between perception and movement, and the possibility of finding meaning through repetition.

He has published three books centered on walking: The Walk (2016), Circling the Mountain (2019), and What Happens When Nothing Happens (2020). All are available in the SSE Library.

Alongside his artistic practice, Eriksson works in publishing and editorial production. He co-founded and ran the magazine Motiv during the 2000s and has run the publishing house Skreid Publishing since 2016.

Previous exhibitions include Kulturhuset, Panopticon, and CFF in Stockholm. In spring 2020, he participated in the group exhibition Silent Spring.