HÅKAN JONSON

hakan (at) jonson.net

Artist, programmer and publisher based in Stockholm, Sweden. Work includes digital art, software development, print making, book crafting and paintings. One half of IRRLICHT, a non-profit publishing house and record company focusing on contemporary text and sound art.

28/4/23 (2024)

w/ Mats Erlandsson

Cyanotype Prints

28/4/23

90 unique cyanotype prints and woodcuts created for the 28/4/23 cassette project featuring composer Mats Erlandsson.

"28/4/23 captures the atmospheric live performance of Swedish composer Mats Erlandsson at Fylkingen, Stockholm on the 28th of April, 2023. With exceptional delicacy, Erlandsson guides the audience through his signature electro-gothic soundscape of continuous tension; 40 minutes of processed field recordings, zither, feedback and Serge modular synthesizer."

The project as a whole consist of ten unique negatives, the construction of a UV-light box, frames for exposure and woodcuts.

Available through Irrlicht publishing.

Sol II (2023)

w/ Kristofer Flensmarck

Woodcuts

Book

Eight woodcut illustrations in dialog with the poetry of Kristofer Flensmarck; book edition of 500.

"SOL II is ambient science fiction that takes place five minutes into the future. Deep in the vortex of history, the apocalyptic mythologies of the universe emerge and dissolve; cyclic flash scenes of the beginning of life and the end of everything. Photosynthesis stops. The oxygen disappears. The earth perishes and is reborn. In chaotic streams of consciousness, the microscopic existence of humanity under the dying sun is depicted."

Available through Irrlicht publishing.

Woodcut Print Edition

Materian, edition of 3, 18x18 cm.
Nebulosan, edition of 3, 18x18 cm.
Jord II, edition of 3, 18x18 cm.
Fotosyntesen avstannar, edition of 3, 18x18 cm.
Månen och Jorden, edition of 3, 18x18 cm.
Asteroiden, edition of 3, 18x18 cm.
Emissionen, edition of 3, 18x18 cm.
Horisonten, edition of 3, 18x18 cm.

Exhibitions

SOL II, Detroit Gallery, Stockholm, 20th of March 2023.

Awards

Swedish Book Art Award (Svensk Bokkonst)

Woodcut Projects (2019-2022)

Irrlicht Publishing

21-8-21

On Transmutation

21-8-21

Cassette tape with hand printed woodcut sleeve; edition of 50.

"A crude live recording capturing the first ever performance of a collaborative drone piece by poet Kristofer Flensmarck and composer Erik Enocksson. The performance was bootlegged on the 21st of August, 2021 at Anti Antikvariat in Malmö."

Available through Irrlicht publishing.

On Transmutation

Box set (4 x C20) with copper woodcut engraving; edition of 30.

Transmutation – the conversion of one element into another – is the overarching principle for this release in which four contemporary artists convert iconic historical texts into sound; from breath and bells, field recordings and strings, to the repeating cycles of pure sine waves. The texts themselves deals with themes ranging from the elevation, or divination of the human soul to the conversion of electrical currents into cryptocurrency. Together they loosely trace their common denominator – Alchemy – throughout a Western history of ideas.

Available through Irrlicht publishing.

Scanning — Printing (2018)

w/ Jonas (J) Magnusson & Cecilia Grönberg

Installation View, Moderna Museet, 2018.

Autonomous publishing installation for the 79th edition of OEI.

"The 79th edition of OEI magazine stands out from previous editions. It is published as a spatial presentation and is an experimental montage of different editorial practices in an expanded field between art, poetry, film, documents, theory and historiography."

Exhibitions

OEI #79 — EDIT/PUBLISH/DISTRIBUTE!, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, February - March 2018.

Encyclopedia (2015)

w/ Johannes Heldén

Photo by Pär Fredin / Uppsala konstmuseum, 2023.
Installation View, Cecilia Hillström Gallery, 2019.

Encyclopedia is a text generator that creates encyclopedic entries for extinct fictive animal species. It aims to put a gentle focus on the state of the planet, meanwhile exploring the possibilities of digital literature and art.

Publication containing 150 excerpts from the artwork available here.

Exhibitions (in selection)

En postum resa in i framtiden, Uppsala Konstmuseum, Uppsala, Sweden, 2023.
Human Nature at OBORO, Montreal, Canada, 2021.
Shapeshifters, Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö, Sweden, 2020.
Impakt Festival, Utrecht, Netherlands, 2019.
Cecilia Hillström Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden, 2019.
Desert X, Coachella Valley, USA, 2019.
Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA), Riga, Latvia, 2018.
Et Nytt Vi, Kunsthall Trondheim, Norway, 2017.
21st International Symposium on Electronic Art, Vancouver, Canada, August 2015.
Electronic Literature Organization Conference, Bergen, Norway, August 2015.

Publications

Encyclopedia, 150 excerpts, Irrlicht, ISBN 978-91-978919-5-0, 2020.
The Digital Imaginary (by Roderick Coover), The Generative Archive of Encylopedia: A Conversation with Håkan Jonson and Johannes Heldén, Bloomsbury Academic, ISBN 978-1-5013-4756-6, 2020.
Tydningen Magazine (nr. 33/34), Arkiv 1, 2020.
OEI #75–76: NATURBEGREPPET [EKOEI], 2017.

Nollpunkten (2014/15)

 

#8

Nollpunkten (point zero) is a series of oil painting which aims towards nothingness; eight anonymous figurative paintings with the ambition to completly reduce narrative or subject. Even though figurative, the lack of all specific associative elements makes the paintings themselves utterly materalistic and abstract. What is left is the viewers own associative point zero.

Representation

Various private collections.

Evolution (2013/14)

w/ Johannes Heldén

Online version.
Publication.

Evolution is an artwork designed to emulate the texts and music of poet and artist Johannes Heldén. With Evolution we aim to examine and dissect the role of the author; when new poetry that resembles the work of the original author is created or presented through an algorithm, is it possible to make the distinction between "author" and "programmer"?

www.textevolution.net

Exhibitions (in selection)

Textival, Arts & Poetry Festival, Gothenburg, 2022.
Radikal Salong, Stadsteatern, Stockholm, 2019.
Language and the Interface, International Conference on Digital Literary Studies, Coimbra, Portugal, May 2015.
Chercher Le Texte, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, September 2014.
The 6th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS), Istanbul, Turkey, November 2014.
Lumen Prize Exhibition, Cardiff (UK), Athens (Greece), New York (USA), Amsterdam (Netherlands, Jan. 2015), London (UK, May 2015).
OEI Colour Project, Stockholm, Sweden, May 2014. Hastac, (an early draft) Toronto, Canada, May 2013.

Publications (in selection)

Evolution, OEI Editör, ISBN 97-89-18590566-9, 2014.

Awards

The N. Katherine Hayles Award for Electronic Litterature
The Lumen Prize Shortlist
Kulturbryggan

History Revisited

Various projects from the past







 Slutförvar1 (2013)

Hand made book (written by Kristofer Flensmarck); cyanotype prints, photography, etc. 100 copies, published by Irrlicht.

 Aeronautics2 (2013)

Series of 6 oil paintings looking at the planet from above; the atmosphere, air pollution, weather phenomenas, etc.

 System3 (2012/13)

Hand made book (written by Johannes Heldén); van Dyke prints, embossing, etc. 100 copies, published by Irrlicht.

 Det ska se ut som slutet (2012)

Cover art and conceptual work for the album by Swedish post-punk band "Diskoteket" (w/ Erik Enocksson). Released by Irrlicht.

 Nedjal Echtal4 (2012)

Cover art for the audio piece by Pär Thörn; released by Zeon Light Kassett.

 A Collection of Blind Birds5 (2011)

Pen sketches. Fragments published in the Liverpool based publication Drawing Paper.

 F P S (2011)

Hand made book (written by Kristofer Flensmarck). 300 copies, published by Irrlicht.

 Katalys (2010/11)

Series of 8 oil paintings loosely based upon Arthur C. Clarkes Space Odyssey. Executed during 2010-2011 and partly published in the swedish art and litterature magazine "Rymden" in December 2011 (unfortunately no longer available).

 Den vita staden (2011)

Hand made book (written by Jessica Andersson). 300 copies, published by Irrlicht.

 Misantropi för nybörjare (2010)

Cover art and conceptual work for the album by "Chicagojazzen" (w/ Erik Enocksson). Released by Irrlicht.

 Skinnskatteberg (2008)

Musician in the film by Jesper Ganslandt featuring music by Erik Enocksson. Filmed in the summer of 2008 and released on DVD in 2011 by Gothenborg based label Kning Disk.