Petra Gibb at the Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm

Swedish architect Petra Gibb is a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Sweden. Her exhibition “passage/shaft/niche/lining/ nave – wandering” opened at the Liljevalchs Konsthall in Stockholm to coincide with the launch of the book by the same name, which explores the poetry of her architecture.


It is universally recognised that all forms of art - from poetry to drawing to music - are closely connected to architecture. Then there are certain architects who have developed a unique approach to this theme, like Swedish architect Petra Gibb, known for her award-winning Kivik Art Centre and for the inventor's workshop, “The Cathedral”, nominated for the Mies van der Rohe award in 2015. 
For Petra Gipp, working with models is pivotal. It's a way of approaching architecture, often independent of scale. Here, space can be sculpted with a focus on volume, elements and details, where everything blends together into a single thought. Seamless work with a material like cast plaster makes it possible to shape an architectural idea on the basis of that material. In this way, the environments and volumes that Gibb creates achieve clarity and a personal voice. 
And that's exactly what we see in the exhibition at the Liljevalchs Konsthall in Stockholm where photos, Indian ink washes and text weave a story around the architecture. We see how the elements are put together, we see the gap that is created in the composition of the elements and we understand how that room relates to the human body. It all comes to life through the plaster models, combined not just with other building materials but also with the introduction of other disciplines, like the newly written poems by Ann Jäderlund or a piece of music composed specifically by Pelle Ossler, to add another layer to the plaster.
We will also see Petra Gibb in Venice, during the16the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, in the central pavilion as part of the FREESPACE theme. She was brought in to this by ArkDes, Sweden's national centre for architecture and design, with the artist Mikael Olsson (Stockholm) to create an exhibition exploring an aspect of 20th Century Swedish architectural history through the lens of contemporary practice. Incorporating material from the ArkDes national collection, the exhibition will align with the Freespace manifesto of Grafton Architects by seeking to demonstrate how free or extra spatial gifts in the context of our built environments can contribute to the experience of a place, a landscape, and patterns of life.
The book called “passage/shaft/niche/lining/ nave – wandering” has been published by Arvinius + Orfeus in conjunction with the exhibition.

Christiane Bürklein

Exhibition - Mostra “passage/shaft/niche/lining/ nave – wandering” by Petra Gibb
27 April to 13 May 2018
Liljevachs Museum, Stockholm, Sweden
Images: courtesy Arvinius + Orfeus
Find out morei: http://www.liljevalchs.se/
Book “passage/shaft/niche/lining/ nave – wandering” 
Language: Swedish/Danish/English, editor: Arvinius + Orfeus
Text: Ann Jäderlund, Peter Bjerrum, Helena Mattsson, Sune Nordgren, Petra Gipp 
Graphic Design: Pär Wickholm 
Date: April 2018 
ISBN: 978-91-87543-64-7