Per Svensson
SOUNDING FLOWERS I-III
Three cobalt-blue steel sculptures with built-in speakers are placed by a small pond in Pilane. They look like mysterious flowers in quiet conversation with the landscape. Their shapes resemble giant waterlilies – blue lotuses (Nymphaea caerulea) – or harebells blossoming in metal. When visitors approach, the works respond with sound, powered by sunlight through solar panels and batteries, as if the day itself gave them a voice.
The sound composition moves from flower to flower. The moving sound almost feels like the plants are speaking an inner, ancient language. Sometimes, we hear rare water birds, or human voices. Occasionally, the sound of the bells of Notre Dame in Paris is carried across the water, like a distant memory or an echo from another world.
Per Svensson’s art often references alchemy, nature mysticism, and has links to anthroposophy. His works evolve from a dialogue between scientific observations and a poetic use of the mysteries of nature. They are preceded by intense and detailed sketching, where thoughts and ideas are formulated.
* This work is dedicated to the artist’s mother, who died in 2024.
Per Svensson, born in 1965, studied at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm and KTH School of Architecture. He works with sculpture, sound, watercolour, drawing, film, poetry and architecture, and is also active as a musician in The New Alchemy, Cosmic Garden Project, Autosound and Gold. Svensson’s works have been shown at Moderna Museet in Stockholm and Malmö, Ystad Konstmuseum, Lusaka National Museum Zambia, LACE in Los Angeles, Heliostrum in Cologne, the Academy of Art in Budapest, Gothenburg Art Museum and MHR in Reykjavik.