Index - The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation

31/10/2026

Index is open daily this weekend, 12:00-16:00.

Final weekend for Ruby Nilsson: RECANTATION and the current spatial iteration of Pontus Pettersson: AIR. Welcome!

Image 1: Installation view, Ruby Nilsson, RECANTATION, Index 2026. Credit: Julia Malmquist
Image 2: Installation view, Pontus Pettersson, AIR, Index October 2026. Credit: Index team

30/10/2026

The invitation for Ruby Nilsson to create a work for Index necessitated a shift from performance and the context of the stage towards an dramatisation of the exhibition space – opening up possibilities for Nilsson to play with dramaturgy through a different set of spatial, visual, textual and temporal parameters. The work weaves together inspiration from historical references including medieval witch trials, religious symbolism, mysticism, christian confessional literature and the strange convergence between the social cultures of trans and looksmaxxing communities.

Certain elements in the space extend elements of Nilsson’s world building through physical refences; for instance the prayer rail which invites visitors to kneel, or sit, and take up a certain vantage point towards the video work.

RECANTATION is on view until Sunday 1 November.

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Recantation (2026)
Projection on canvas, folded black molton, charred pine and plywood.
Ruby Nilsson

Video installation Duration: 30 min
Written and directed by Ruby Nilsson
Animation: Jacob Habinc
Sound design: Ruby Nilsson
Music and sound design: Hannes Ferm
Color grading: Daniel Pherson
Construction of prayer rail: Johannes Hägglund

Image: Detail of the prayer rail. Installation view, Ruby Nilsson, RECANTATION, Index 2026.
Credit: Julia Malmquist

29/10/2026

Final week for Ruby Nilsson: RECANTATION, on view until Sunday 1 November! Don’t miss Nilsson’s transformation of Index’ space into a ritualistic setting for her new video work: a grim yet humorous economic science fiction that explores an uncomfortable future of tr*******al labor.

Index is open
Thursday / Friday 12:00-18:00
Saturday / Sunday 12:00-16:00

From the exhibition text:

The border between fiction and factual history is often blurred in Nilsson’s worldbuilding, using history as a tool to invent new scenarios and futures beyond the obvious and expected.

From an institutional perspective, exhibition making is also a form of worldbuilding. RECANTATION can be read as a challenge to the oft-perceived neutrality or contextual vacuum of the “white cube” gallery space – instead incorporating elements of the “black box” or theatre, to employ theatrical and dramaturgical devices that support a suspension of disbelief – and resist demands on the work to provide answers. The installation asks of the visitors the same suspension of disbelief: when you enter this room, these are the conditions that are the truth.

Folded black molton fabric transforms the room into a casket-looking shape, making the space emerge as something that feels like a burial site of earlier beliefs. To take part of the work, one is invited to kneel on a curved prayer rail. This can be read as an invitation to physically participate in the forms of subjugation that the installation explores.

Image: Installation view, Ruby Nilsson, RECANTATION, Index 2026.

Credit: Julia Malmquist

24/10/2026

Last week, Index Teen Advisory Board (ITAB) travelled to Oslo to meet with the Youth Boards of PRAKSIS (Oslo) and PUBLICS (Helsinki) for the Nordic Youth Conference 2026: In Our Own Words, a three-day gathering exploring language and accessibility in art institutions. The boards spent time asking questions about how institutions communicate, who they speak to, and what it means to make space for different voices, experiences, and ways of participating. The days unfolded through workshops with Anastasia (A) Alevtin and Sabīne Šnē, conversations with Yaniya Mikhalina and Joen Vedel, visits to Nasjonalmuseet and UKS Young Artists’ Society, and a public symposium at Nitja senter for samtidskunst, developed and presented together by the three boards.

Much of what made this gathering meaningful happened in the moments in between. On the journey, during walks, short breaks, around the dinner table, and in conversations that continued after the scheduled activities had ended. Getting to know one another, building trust, sharing experiences, and discovering different perspectives are all part of developing a collective practice. They shape how we listen, think, and work together. ITAB returns to Stockholm with new friendships, experiences and questions to carry into their continuing work at Index. The conversations that started in Oslo will continue to unfold through the relationships formed and the work still to come.

Thank you to PRAKSIS, PUBLICS, Nitja, the invited contributors, and above all the members from all three youth boards who shaped these days with their curiosity, care, and commitment.

Part of the project Opening Doors (2026–2029), supported by Erasmus+ ungdom

22/10/2026

Two events this weekend at Index, both with connections to Index Teen Advisory Board.

The first is S*x Automatica, a performance lecture by Dylan Murray that takes place this Saturday, 16:00-17:00 amid Ruby Nilsson’s exhibition installation. Dylan is an artist, writer and curator and a former ITAB member. They are currently studying at Gerrit Rietveld Academie.

On Sunday 13:00-15:00, Index and the current Teen Advisory Board host Sunday Read, a recurring reading circle for those aged 16-21. Sunday Read #5 focuses on two texts by Aimi Hamraie. More information at Index website.

The two exhibitions currently on view at Index are Ruby Nilsson: RECANTATION (until 1 November) and Pontus Pettersson: AIR (until February 2027, yet continually changing!).

Index is open:
Thursday / Friday 12:00-18:00
Saturday / Sunday 12:00-16:00

Welcome!


ITAB

Ruby Nilsson
pjukus

20/10/2026

Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, PRAKSIS, PUBLICS, Simian and the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA) join forces to trial a distributed institutional structure.

Institutional Reimagining brings together Index, PRAKSIS, PUBLICS, Simian and the Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art (LCCA) to test a decentralised institutional form, whilst maintaining their local independent programming from their bases in Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Riga.

Small and mid-sized arts organizations often face similar pressures: tight budgets, stretched teams, short-term funding cycles and high expectations for production. Yet most institutional models assume that organizations should work, and potentially grow, individually.

Institutional Reimagining’s five partners intend to challenge that assumption. From summer 2026 until late 2027, they engage in an experiment in collective programming, and discover what becomes possible when independent organizations in different countries and different parts of the arts ecosystem align their activities.

Institutional Reimagining is supported by Nordic Culture Fund. It explores how small and mid-sized arts organizations can operate as a distributed institution and develop new models for resilience, care and public relevance.

Read more at Index website https://indexfoundation.se/special/institutional-reimagining


PRAKSIS
Publics


Nordisk Kulturfond

14/10/2026

Index Teen Advisory Board has been awarded the 2026 Lava Prize in Literature by Kulturhuset Stadsteatern!

Index is enormously proud of this recognition of the work of Index Teen Advisory Board members, supported by Index' Curator of Learning, Tony Karlsson Savci.

The jury’s motivation:

“For their systematic and honest intention to move young people from the periphery to the center, from audience to practice and from individualism to collective. In a time where collaboration and conversation cry out for space and respect, this year’s recipient has stubbornly and purposefully raised their banners for young people’s own perspectives on the arts. By moving both out into the world and into the text, a truth is manifested in Lava’s spirit; that those who sow shall also reap – and that those who build a greenhouse can have flowers even in winter.”

“The Lava Prize in Literature has been awarded annually since 2014 in connection with the Nobel prize in Literature. The award recognises writers, literary initiatives and other voices that contribute to literature, reading and young people’s perspectives. This year’s recipient is Index Teen Advisory Board - a program that gives young people opportunity to investigate the role of art in society in an experimental, critical and playful way.”

Read more here:

Tilldelas Index Teen Advisory Board.

10/10/2026

Next week, 15–17 October, Index Teen Advisory Board (ITAB) will meet with fellow youth advisory boards from PRAKSIS (Oslo) and PUBLICS (Helsinki) for the annual Future Futures conference in Oslo. This marks the first time the current board members from all three cities will come together in person. Throughout the conference, they will work with artists, visit exhibitions and art platforms, and exchange experiences and perspectives. On the final day, they will present In Our Own Words, a public symposium on language and access in art institutions, at Nitja – Centre for Contemporary Art.

Over the past four months, ITAB has been evaluating art spaces across Stockholm as part of Opening Doors, a project developed together with the Nordic youth advisory boards at PRAKSIS and PUBLICS. The group has visited Beau Travail, Konsthall C, Moderna Museet and Index itself, looking beyond the exhibitions to consider how each space communicates with, welcomes and makes itself accessible to visitors. Through these evaluations, ITAB is exploring what makes an art space inviting to young people, and where there is room for change.

Following the conference, the group will revisit the spaces to speak with staff and organisers, deepen their evaluations and consider how their findings might contribute to meaningful change.

Follow ITAB for updates directly from the group during the conference and insights into their ongoing work.

09/10/2026

Pontus Pettersson’s latest installations activate a backstage mode within Ruby Nilsson’s ongoing exhibition RECANTATION and its theatrical rendering of the Index space.

Behind the heavy black drapes, Pontus’ spatial reconfiguration suggests the intimacy and quiet preparation of being behind the scenes, or offstage – costume, rehearsing a script, crafting scores. The multiple corners or areas could be read as different aspects of Pontus’ practice – engagement with text, fragments of poetic language, dance and choreography, sculptural installation.

This installation can be encountered as a reappropriation of material at hand, yet it is a materiality that is not static. Pontus’ work is always time-based, rooted in performance and the plasticity of improvisation. It is also a rearticulation of a question at the core of AIR - what is means to host and be hosted.

Index is open Thursday / Friday 12:00-18:00 and Saturday / Sunday 12:00-16:00. Welcome!

Currently on view: Ruby Nilsson: RECANTATION and Pontus Pettersson: AIR

26/09/2026

On view at Index: Ruby Nilsson: RECANTATION

The exhibition is open:
Thursday / Friday 12:00-18:00
Saturday / Sunday 12:00-16:00

Image: Installation view, Ruby Nilsson, RECANTATION, Index 2026.

Credit: Julia Malmquist

Ruby Nilsson

jules ( 👔 julia )