Henrik Håkansson

Henrik Håkansson's work is a mesmerizing exploration of the cycles that underpin the natural world, and how they intersect with human culture.  

Biography of Henrik Håkansson

Henrik Håkansson was born in 1968 in Helsingborg, Sweden. Currently, the artist lives and works in Falkenberg, Sweden, and Berlin, Germany.

Håkansson's artistic prowess has been showcased in a series of notable solo exhibitions that have captivated audiences around the world. His significant solo exhibitions were held at the Kode Art Museum (Bergen, 2019/2018), Kunstverein Freiburg (2016), Lunds Konsthall (2012), The Modern Institute (Glasgow, 2011), Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (2009), Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo (Mexico City, 2008), Palais de Tokyo (with Allora-Calzadilla and Sergio Vega, Paris, 2006), Frieze Art Fair Project (London, 2005), and Canberra School of Art Gallery (1999).

His works have consistently been featured at festivals and biennales, including Biennale Gherdëina 7 (Urtijëi, IT), IHME Festival Helsinki, Taipei Biennial, Emscherkunst 2016, Sydney Biennale, documenta 13, Yokohama Triennale, Biennale d'Art Contemporain de Lyon, Berlin Biennale, Skulptur Biennale Münster, and Biennale di Venezia, showcasing the breadth of his artistic contributions.

Henrik Håkansson's Art Style

Henrik Håkansson's work delves into (natural) cycles, which serve as symbolic subjects and are intricately intertwined on a physical level. The artist's transformation of these fragments of nature into a cultural context gives rise to almost surreal spatial compositions and scenarios. In his art, culture and nature are concurrently perceived as references, outcomes, and essences.

Håkansson's thought-provoking sequences establish a nuanced dialogue encompassing humanity, nature, and space. Plants, living organisms, and their adaptability to factors like light, temperature, time, or external influences not typically found in nature shape his work and serve as its conceptual focal point.

The artist constructs reference systems born from observations that are, in turn, observational. His installations not only physically manifest this within the space but also expose the form of their mediated transfer: the technical documentation of observation. Here, Håkansson unites nature and technology on the visual platforms of film or photography, juxtaposed with the natural materials in his installations. Film, video, photography, text, and sound collectively establish a framework that the artist utilizes as a foundation to access a performative domain, in which the act of observation circulates.