Fanny Spång Fresh A.I.R. artist in residence

Fanny Spång

Swedish artist Fanny Spång (b.1988) works within a multidisciplinary practice with visual expression through animation, sculpture, installation art and design. Her artistic practice explores organic structures through a twisted, detailed surrealism and investigates topics such as perishability, emptiness, collective consciousness and the experience of time. With a fascination for nature and science her work explores bodily textures in an unexpected context and format. […]

Biography / Fanny Spång

Swedish artist Fanny Spång (b. 1988) works within a multidisciplinary practice with visual expression through animation, sculpture, installation art and design. Her artistic practice explores organic structures through a twisted, detailed surrealism and investigates topics such as perishability, emptiness, collective consciousness and the experience of time. With a fascination for nature and science her work explores bodily textures in an unexpected context and format. Fanny Spång has a Master of Fine Arts in Design from Högskolan för Design och Konsthantverk (University for Design and Crafts) in Gothenburg and studied at the School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York during her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design. She has exhibited in Sweden and Germany and as a designer done book covers for publishing houses in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Fanny Spång was a scholar of Fresh A.I.R. #3.

Project description:

Mapping the city as a superorganism

The projects aim is to explore the city as a superorganism similar to social insects communities, such as ants or termites through artistic practice and research. A superorganism is a group of a large number of individual organisms, the individuals are interdependent and often specialized. Social insect communities, such as the ant stacks and termites are usually cited as typical examples of superorganisms. Some scientists consider the human body to be a superorganism in the way it hosts microorganisms in large quantities, which interact and influence the body’s development and functions throughout life. Through industrialization and urbanism humankind has in many ways removed itself from the notion of being connected to the environment and concepts of humanity as a lifeform disconnected from nature has been widely spread. But with raising environmental and climate awareness new visions of humanity and its’ role has emerged. The city as an organism in connection to the biosphere is more relevant than ever due to societies attempt towards a more sustainable way of urban life. The human body, the city and the biosphere and their relationship to each other is the topic of this explorative project.

Photo credit: Rica Rosa