THE -ING FORM: a working situation

2023 is the 25th anniversary of Index as a Foundation. During this time, Index has been an institution reflecting on change and working with new definitions. How to look back at 25 years of Index Foundation and of all that has been done? All that is being done? how to continue working? How to define possible futures?

THE -ING FORM – the title comes from the present participle of a verb, such as doing, working, exhibiting – is not necessarily only an exhibition. It is a context to think about a way of working, an open question of how to deal with a fabric of ideas and narratives, and how to define institutional thinking into the future.

THE -ING FORM is an exhibition and a working situation, and an invitation to reflect on 25 years of doing. It’s something in between observation and action. With THE -ING FORM, Index opens a series of dialogues with several agents concerning institutional ways of doing.

Playing with a mode between storage and display, an extended structure stretches through the exhibition space, presenting Index Magazine, published 1992-1998, as well as archival elements, objects and ephemeralia from Index’ living history and active present.

The spatial installation makes visible the everyday of Index through the years, and connects to Index’ re-use of materials through exhibitions; here, a vitrine from a previous exhibition is reused to house a different object each day that THE -ING FORM is open to the public. The object could be a photograph from the archive, a fax from Galleri Index of the mid 1990s – it could also be an object as yet unknown, suggested by a visitor.

A series of recorded interviews with previous Index directors Karina Ericsson Wärn, Mats Stjernstedt, Diana Baldon and Axel Wieder can be watched, and during the spring, the Index team will have a series of open conversations with other key figures connected to Index and institutional thinking, including Elvira Dyangani Ose, Steffi Hessler, Paul O’Neill, Jacob Fabricius, Izabella Borzeka, Madeleine Andersson and Manuel Segade.

Also on view is research by Melike Janine Sökmen investigating Index’ shifting vocabulary over 25 years, presented with a graphic translation by Oskar Laurin and William Jokijärvi Andersson. Using Text Mining, Melike Janine Sökmen works with data analysis of all the press releases and exhibition texts. The result is a glossary and analysis of Index’ changing language over time and in relation to shifts in thinking and a changing world.

The space is a representation and articulation of moments and patterns of Index Foundation’s 25 years, the programming of its different directors, and the ripples on the water into the life of the many people who were regular visitors, participating artists, collaborators, technicians and neighbors.

The installation not only intervenes with objects in Index but also delineates the physical relocation of Index in 2005. Creating space for the current team’s table and daily working situation amidst this context, this is a porous situation which will change throughout the spring–in dialogue with visitors and other previous Index collaborators who are invited to engage and think with us in terms of past, present and future.

Check conversations program connected with the exhibition here.