Kulturista - Cultural Experiences in West Sweden

C U LT U R E E X P E R I E N C E S I N W E S T S W E D E N 12 T H E A R T M U S E U M T H AT N E V E R S H O U L D H AV E B E E N If you head north from the Textile Fashion Center, toward Knalle- land and Borås Zoo, you’ll arrive at Abecita Art Museum. It fea- tures international photography, European and American grap- hic art, and award-winning Nordic textile art. But the fact is, this unique collection was never intended to be exhibited. It all started when Berit and Bengt Swedmark, owners of Abecita AB, a le- ading Scandinavian producer of women’s swimwear and under- wear, began to buy graphic art for their home, by artists who were relatively unknown at the time. With time the collection grew and the couple decided to share it with the world. So now the collection is housed in a three-storey building, featuring over 500 artworks by some 30 international artists, including Andy War- hol, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Kiki Smith, Louise Bourgeois and Jim Dine. The development of the town into a gallery full of art, sculpture and street art has made waves around the world. So it’s no surprise that the locals are proud of their creative, innovative town, where art is accessible in a unique way, and a part of everyone’s daily life. thread, and then fashioned into a soft and flexible dress. Who knows, in a few years’ time we all might be walking around in clothes made of paper. T H E T O W N A S A G A L L E R Y The creative Borås mentality can be felt everywhere in Borås, which you’ll discover as soon as you arrive. Over the past decade the town has been transformed into a gigantic outdoor art gallery, thanks to two art biennales, one for sculpture and one for street art, which rotate every second year. For the festival No Limit Street Art, which started in the autumn of 2014, internationally renowned street artists were invited to fill the town’s walls and squares with everything from small sculptures to huge murals – some so large that they cover entire walls of a seven-storey buil- ding. The idea of the town as a gallery is also in focus during the Borås International Sculpture Biennials , which started in 2008. The sculptures on exhibit have become part of the town’s charac- ter. One of the most renowned is Jim Dine’s nine-metre tall bronze statue of Pinocchio, named Walking to Borås, which many people associate with the pedlars from Borås who walked around the countryside of Sweden, selling textiles. Another sig- nificant piece is Jaume Plensa’s House of Knowledge, located outside the entrance to the Textile Fashion Center. It symbolizes the learning and understanding of textile research.