Wang & Söderström, consisting of the art and design duo Anny Wang and Tim Söderström, navigate the intersection of speculative design, digital craft and art. In the exhibition "Sharp Feelers – Soft Antennas," they explore what it signifies for our senses that we are moving towards an increasingly digital future. Can feelers, tentacles and antennas provide us with clues to how we can relate to the digital using our sensory organs?
Through our senses, we create an understanding of ourselves, other lives and the world around us. We live in a world where the physical and digital have merged, where technology is not at odds with either humans or nature. The exhibition explores what that means for our senses in a time when the digital permeates every part of our lives, says Tim Söderström.
Sensuous Shapes and Playful Design
Wang & Söderström's work is characterised by playful design and sensuous forms. In their pieces, the duo creates new synthetic realities. It focuses on how the digital world affects us humans - and how ecology, materials and the senses are changing in the digital age.
How can new technologies broaden our narrow view of perception, and can we discover new ways of sensing? If it is through our senses that we understand the world around us, we need to sharpen them, says Anny Wang.
New Works Inspired by the Museum’s Collection
The exhibition features both existing and two brand-new pieces: Känselspröt (Feelers), a Jacquard tapestry, and 5+sinnen (5+senses): a folding screen activated through augmented reality. The newly commissioned works are based on the Röhsska Museum's collections from the 17th and 18th centuries, where sensuousness and the systems of nature are in focus. Previous works include a reworked version of the interactive installation The Liminal Eatery, which is activated in the public programme when the audience is invited to a tasting experience with food designer Josefin Vargö.
Wang & Söderström's practice is highly relevant to the times we live in. Bridging history and contemporary design discourse, the exhibition offers visitors a multi-sensory and digital experience where the Röhsska Museum's collections are actualised through new commissions, says Nina Due, Museum Director.
