When you follow science to its edge, things no longer act like they are supposed to. The vastness of observational techniques, computational depth and experimental systems that resist reproduction all add to a scenario where things are becoming weird.

In the closing week of Madeleine Andersson: SHOCK VALUE, Index presents, Knowledge at the Edge of Collapse, a two-day symposium organized by Andersson and Mandus Ridefelt. The symposium will explore a reimagined relationship between art and science, posing questions like; Are anomalies becoming the norm? Is perversion a driving force of science? The symposium takes its point of departure from the current exhibition at Index and invites a wide range of artists, curators and theorists to speak about subjects in the periphery of science. From their separate fields of knowledge and research the participants will present a sequence of stories, images, sounds and concepts, collapsing the boundaries of artistic research and scientific methodology. For more information about the symposium, the speakers and schedule please visit Index’ website.

With Bassam El Baroni, Giulia Bini, Joakim Forsgren, Lars Bang Larsen, Stina Nyberg, and Isabelle Ståhl. Introductory lecture performance by Mandus Ridefelt and Madeleine Andersson.

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Last month, Index Teen Advisory Board (ITAB) visited graphic designer and artist Sara Kaaman in her studio in Bagarmossen for a session that included a role-play of the imagination called Oraklets ark. Set in the year 2125, participants were invited to imagine a future shaped by mutual care, shared nourishment, and interdependence.

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In 2019, Index presented The Sleepover Experiment, a one night exhibition hosted by Annika Larsson. The exhibition took place over the course of 12 hours to which 20 artists, researchers, writers and students were invited to participate in a series of openly choreographed acts, conversations, performances, sounds and moving images which aimed to challenge the very notion of ourselves as autonomous and in control.

By letting images, bodies and minds influence each other over the course of the night, the exhibition explored temporary moments that allowed social structures and identities to be fluid, paradoxical, and open, while at the same time producing an interrelated effect.

Screening films by Susan Hiller, Annika Larsson, John Smith, Lap-See Lam, Harun Farocki, Zbynek Baladrán & Barbora Kleinhamplová, Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel and The Otolith Group, as well as performances by JUCK and Augustin Maurs, and an unveiling of a ghost from Archive Conz.

Annika Larsson later released a vinyl with recordings from the night, you can listen to a snippet from the label AARCHIVESSOUNDD here.

The Sleepover Experiment was part of Non-knowledge, Laughter and the Moving Image an artistic research project led by Annika Larsson. The project was funded by the Swedish Research Council and done in collaboration with The Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm and the HFBK – Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg.

* Index Archive is a feature in the Index Newsletter, where we as an institution look back at our history and bring forward something from the vast archive of Index.

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Last weeks of Madeleine Andersson: SHOCK VALUE. The exhibition is open every Thursday to Sunday until 24 August. An excerpt from the exhibition text:

“In a world where Artificial Intelligence is taking more space, it seems important to reposition what “human” is and what we can define as human intelligence, if “intelligence” is the right concept: Random behavior, surreal connections and other possibilities are open via what traditionally has been considered not productive thinking (or stupidity). In SHOCK VALUE, a solo exhibition by Madeleine Andersson, bringing together new and existing sculptures and video works in a total installation, Andersson presents what she calls “Degenerative Knowledge”; a concept which questions the western notion of progression.”

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Frieze: Interview with Claudia Pagès Rabal

Dagens Nyheter: Milou Allerholm about Madeleine Andersson

Frieze: Elmer Blåvarg about Madeleine Andersson, Best Shows in the Nordics

Kunstkritikk: Nora Arrhenius Hagdahl about Madeleine Andersson

Current: Madeleine Andersson: SHOCK VALUE
3 April–24 August 2025

Preview: Claudia Pagès Rabal: ALJUB
11 September–19 October 2025