Interview Anna Andersson

YM: Tell me about how you discovered and began working with sculpture! And what makes sculpture so powerful and meaningful as a means of expression in your artistic practice?

AA: I don’t really remember how it started, but I do recall a feeling that something was falling into place when I decided to devote myself to sculpture specifically. Eventually, it became a sort of framework for my practice. Thinking sculpturally brings me to a point just before I start breaking down my experiences and categorising them. I believe that this holds a potential for communication on a level that lies beyond that which can be said in an ordinary conversation. Also, the sculpture exists in the same spatiality as I do. And since the sculpture is not just an image but also an object in the world, which is not useful, it forces us to challenge habitual patterns for how we perceive things that demand a more deep listening.

YM: How do you think working in-depth on a specific form over longer timeframes as you do, exploring both repetition and variation through a variety of materials and techniques, influences your creative process and enriches your artistic expression?

AA: Working with the same shapes for extended periods sets up a visual language and, perhaps, something to hold on to, like a rule to follow, which can lead to things emerging that I could never have conceived by just thinking about them. And that feels interesting, considering how I am also working with randomness and improvisation. A series of sculptures emanates from a state of mind that has been formed by the same inner and outer circumstances – these change over time, and one and the same form can thereby be invested with fragments extracted from a stream of consciousness, where something has suddenly changed or latched onto something else. A new material or a new technique creates a new situation for the form and lets it speak in a different way.

YM: You explore the interaction between object and space. What is it about this interaction that fascinates you? What do you want the viewer to experience when they interact with your works in relation to the surrounding space?

AA: The most fascinating thing is how the sculpture has the capacity to reveal both its inside and outside at the same time. That it can create inaccessible spaces that you can’t grasp, that stretch beyond themselves. A more kneadable space. The exhibition space is another aspect. So far, it has not been a starting point for how I produce a work, but opportunities sometimes arise in the installation process, where connecting elements can be achieved with very small means, that ideally warp the room slightly. For me, this is like a reminder of how a sculpture, an object of the mind, has become physical. It sort of visualises the sense of never knowing who is pursuing whom, the world or the mind.

Image: Anna Andersson. Photo: Vegard Kleven.