ÅSA SONJASDOTTER
Born 1966 in Lund, Sweden. Lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark
 
© Åsa Sonjasdotter & Younis Naseem
Åsa Sonjasdotter in collaboration with 6.C, “with love from 6.C” (Younis Naseem's postcard), 2004. © Åsa Sonjasdotter & Younis Naseem
 
Åsa Sonjasdotter is a visual artist who has studied at Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, Norway, and at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. She holds an MFA from the Department of Theory and Communication at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. She is a member of Women Down the Pub, a feminist art- and action group which operates within the current debate on gender. Sonjasdotter's practice focuses on social gathering and relations. Taking her starting point in a given site or situation, she creates a framework or a set of conditions for an initiation of thought processes within the parties involved. Sonjasdotter's projects function as social forums, in which the artist herself often acts and interacts with the subjects involved. Collaborating with other artists or selected groups, she works towards the realization of projects which address societal issues while being meaningful to the everyday life of the individuals involved. Selected projects and exhibitions include: Take Place – Make Meaning (Center for Contemporary Art, Lund, 2005); “Copenhagen City Wall of Free Speech” (Monument, Copenhagen, 2004); “Experiments with truth” (project and residency at KHOJ Artist Workshops, New Delhi, India, 2004); “with love from 6.C” (postcard correspondence project in collaboration with class 6.C of Rådmandsgade Senior Level Department School in Copenhagen and independent curator Tone O. Nielsen, Noerrebro Library, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2004); “One chair, One voice” (Feast/Hospitality, rum46, Aarhus, Denmark, 2003); Sculptura: International Art in Public Spaces (Falkenberg, Sweden, 2002); and YNKB – Outer Noerrebro Cultural Bureau (long term artistic intervention within the area of Noerrebro, Copenhagen, Denmark, in collaboration with visual artists Kirsten Dufour, Finn Thybo Andersen, and Gillion Grantsaan, 2001-). Projects on the Internet include: www.withlovefrom6c.dk, www.rum46.dk, www.mo-nu-ment.dk.
 
Contribution: Participates in Station 1: The Equestrian Hall, Aarhus, with “with love from 7.C,” 2003-05. A postcard correspondence project by Åsa Sonjasdotter and 7.C, Rådmandsgade's School, Copenhagen: Sibgha Nayyar Abbas, Fatima Khalek Abdul, Meryem Anli, Sabah Qamar Bhatti, Abdel Majid Bojazar, Eyyup Ceran, Mucahit Ceran, Mustafa Geleh, Martin Hansen, Adel Ghulam Hussain, Mine Karakas, Younis Naseem, Yakup Salli Nielsen, Büsra Saydam, Abdullah Shahid, and Deniz Øzcan, in collaboration with independent curator Tone O. Nielsen, school teacher Lisa Bruland, and graphic designer Flemming Dupont. Mixed media, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and 7.C. “with love from 7.C” is a postcard correspondence project between 7.C and the outside world. Each of the sixteen pupils of 7.C have, in close co-operation with Sonjasdotter, designed their own individual postcards, which have been printed in a very large edition and sent out into the world, to family and friends, idols and people in positions of power, all according to the choices made by the pupils. Faced with the diversity of the postcards and their numerous destinations, the viewer is left with an impression of these Danish citizens of tomorrow as cosmopolitan and resourceful. As part of the project, Sonjasdotter and 7.C will host two postcard workshops for Aarhus-based school classes and youth clubs in Børnekulturhuset and Brabrand, during which the invited participants will design and mail their own postcards. A slide show documenting these workshops will subsequently be presented in The Equestrian Hall. Sonjasdotter and 7.C will also join the “Children's Culture Day” on Thursday, October 7, 2004, from 2 – 6 pm in The Equestrian Hall. In addition, Sonjasdotter participates in Station 2: Aarhus Art Building, Aarhus, with “A life = ,” 2004. Carpet, 2 x 4 m., produced in collaboration with artist Asif Mufeed and Ege Carpets A/S. Courtesy of the artists.