Liljevalchs vårsalong 2024

conversations with many artists, giving them exhibition invites and commissions, supporting and following them in artistic processes. I asked Ashik Zaman, a curator with one of the best Stockholm art networks to join, and Tawanda Appiah, who has a track record of adding international relevance to any project he gets involved in. As a jury we decided to translate the application invite into English and Arabic. Did we get more applicants? We sure did! Twenty-five percent more artists applied with a total of 4974 applicants. The result is also an exhibition that surprises, challenges, and seduces. Figurative painting is back with a twist. Strong colours, queer motifs and unexpected combinations of material and situations make up Vårsalongen 2024. Masculinity is explored in textile, photography, video installation, painting, and drawing. Men explore things together and their attributes are of importance. The male body is almost as much in focus as the female body was in photography and video art of the early 1990s. Another powerful subject matter in Vårsalongen 2024 is mushrooms and bacteria. Symbolically, the sensitive mycelium underneath the surface of the earth shows the interconnectedness of everything and everyone on this planet. Joanna Sandell Wright Head of Liljevalchs and Jury President