A Table of Content - 2020
Kalmar Konstmuseum


The painting series, A Table of Content, is based on sketches and objects found in the Design Archive in Nybro, Sweden. Through loans and interpretations, Åsa Norberg and Jennie Sundén have created collages in the form of paintings and simpler still lifes. A classic still life often contains everyday and natural objects and has historically reflected contemporary values ​​and conditions. In A Table of Content, sketches of design, art and utility objects are placed side by side; objects that was never produced, those that were manufactured on a small scale and those that went on to mass production.

The Stack, cardboard, linoleum ink, acrylic
The coffee table ”Lövet” from 1956 was the first product that Ikea delivered in a flat package. Shipping was facilitated by the fact that the three legs could be unscrewed from the leaf-shaped table surface, which became one of the company's success factors. In the work The Stack, the shape of Lövet is cut out of cardboard, the material in which goods are packed when they are transported around the world. On the cardboard ornamental prints from other forms of packing material are printed and together the shapes form a pile or stack.



The Flax, mirror glass
In H.C. Andersen's story Linet (org. Hørren / eng. The Flax) we get to follow the journey of the flax from flower to yarn to fabric to clothes to rags to paper that eventually burns up and turns to ashes. The saga clarifies and shapes the origin and life cycle of a raw material. The work The Flax has taken its form from the artist Bart van der Leck's modernistically abstract illustration of the saga Linet. Against an ash-black surface, a number of pieces of mirror glass build up the image of the open fire that forms the final scene in the story. The mirror pieces also break up and reflect the surrounding works in the exhibition.



The Rock, asphalt
Industrialization and mass production of goods created major waste problems in the middle of the 19th century. The production of gas and coke formed the by-product tar which was dumped in cavities in the soil or in watercourses where it polluted and killed all life. In 1856, the first synthetic dye, a purple substance called mauvein, was produced from coal. Gradually, other colors were also extracted from the tar and the dyes that had previously been produced from natural materials were now replaced by artificial ones. A product that used to consist of coal tar is asphalt, which has been used as road construction material since the 8th century. The work The Rock consists of a series of shadow-like objects in asphalt that show the insides of various vessels.



The Block, crayon, acrylic
The word "block" has been taken from a selection of the artist Arthur Percy's sketch books that can be found in the Design Archive in Nybro. In the work The Block, the words have been abstracted and distorted to resemble a kind of vibrations or sound waves which in turn create a dialogue and associations in new directions
Photo: André Lindahl/Kalmar Konstmuseum