LUND.- Underneath the Paving Stone is a group exhibition with works in various artistic formats—sculpture and installation, photography and film—that explore how built environments, institutional structures and historical forces shape our lives, especially in times of crisis, scarcity or repression.

The exhibition gathers artists from different generations and geographical contexts. It scrutinises public space from several political angles, not least focusing on the more or less visible infrastructure that supports (and regulates) our collective experience.

Using artistic methods such as reduction and analysis, displacement and condensation, pastiche and humour, the exhibited works cast light on the spatial, social and symbolic systems underpinning social life. The artists have been particularly attentive to the gaps and cracks that render these systems permeable.

In times marked by a global entanglement of ecological, technological, economic and cultural crises, Underneath the Paving Stone breaks a lance for the potentiality of art itself. It has always had, and still has, the aesthetic and political capacity to visualise the conditions we live under. Moreover, its ambition has always been to challenge us and refashion our lives.

The exhibition offers space for reflection on artistic freedom and how it may be exercised and re-examined. The central issues are: What does it mean to imagine, create and act together today? Can art help identify the in-between spaces where new forms of solidarity and freedom may take root?

The participating artists are Anders Hergum (Noway, 1983), Valérie Jouve (France, 1964), Yuko Mohri (Japan, 1980), Kasra Seyed Alikhani (Iran/Sweden, 1987), Anne Tallentire (Northern Ireland/England, 1949) and Carla Zaccagnini (Brazil/Sweden, 1973). Works by Lygia Clark (Brazil, 1920–88) are also on display.

The curator of the exhibition, Karin Bähler Lavér (Sweden, 1989), is Artistic Director of skēnē—space for contemporary art in Malmö and has previously curated exhibitions for the Kalmar Art Museum, Kunsthalle Mint in Stockholm and other venues. She was also one of the curators for the Luleå Biennial in 2020.

Artists: Lygia Clark, Anders Hergum, Valérie Jouve, Yuko Mohri, Kasra Seyed Alikhani, Anne Tallentire, Carla Zaccagnini