Interludes/Mellanspel 

Seven songs composed by Hugo Alfvén in 1908 — based on poems written by art collector Ernest Thiel — are used as the starting points for a suite of narrated pieces integrated into the audio guide of Stockholm’s Thielska Galleriet.


Interludes proposes lyrical and critical encounters between poems, songs, and artworks from the museum’s permanent collection, reflecting on the aesthetics of gay cruising in the paintings of Eugène Jansson; the problematic title of Johannes Collin's 1915 bronze sculpture, “Neger”; and the conflation of women and flowers in the work of Carl Larsson, among other themes.

Thiel’s seven songs are sung by Mattias Nilsson, accompanied on piano by Anna Christenson and violin by Martin Lissola. The project also exists in a Swedish language version, entitled Mellanspel, with narration performed by the poet Clara Diesen. Interludes was produced during a residency at IASPIS / Konstnärsnämnden.

Interlude No.1: Deep in the free-born human soul mediates an encounter with the museum’s archive cabinet.

Interlude No.2: The only one to whom I gave my heart leads listeners on a tour of paintings of women and flowers by Carl Larsson.

Interlude No.3: I kiss your pale hand contemplates Friedrich Nietzsche’s death mask in relation to a collection of haunted etchings by Edvard Munch.

Interlude No.4: You are quiet rest considers Eugène Jansson’s use of the colour blue as a signal of sublimated homosexual desire.

Interlude No.5: I long for you charts the cultural history of a bronze bust by Johannes Collin, and asks critical questions about how decolonise the artwork’s racialised title. 

Interlude No.6: The forest sleeps invites listeners to sit on Gustav Fjaestad’s giant wooden sofa and conjure sensory memories of an arboreal setting. 

Interlude No.7: Behold, you came with youth and spring in your mind interviews artist Gunilla Josephson about her video remake of Skiss till Näcken, an 1889 painting by her ancestor, Ernst Josephson.