In June, 2023, the 5 x 2 m big tapestry “Vakna, somna, vandra” was installed in Stockholm City Hall to celebrate and commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the iconic Stockholm building.
Studio Supersju (the weaving collective that I am part of since the founding in 2016) got the commission in 2022 and produced the tapestry between November 2022-May 2023. It’s woven in one piece by all of the group’s six members in the technique “Moorman” - a sort of relief-building tapestry technique invented by Theo Moorman in the early 20th century. The commission included a three-word theme: “Love, warmth and care”. The group choose to interpret these words in an abstract motif, using colors to evoke emotions uniquely to each viewer.
photo: Ylva Sundgren
The tapestry is installed in the stairway to the tower, also functioning as the entrance to the building for the Royal family, the Nobel prize winners and the wedding couples who, on every Saturday year-round, walk up and down these stairs on one of the most important days of their lives. That special feeling - equal to the couples and the Nobel prize winners - was also something that Studio Supersju included in their research and inspiration for the tapestry. That day, and the first morning after will forever be extra special for them. What is a morning in Stockholm? The group listened to songs from the passed 100 years and found a shiny read thread connecting them through the decades - that very special light, breeze and air of a Stockholm summer night, and early morning. With it’s location spread out on several islands - connected by a multiple of bridges - the water and the near-by archipelago is always present. Combined with the light and bright Swedish summers, those are two components that makes us walk.
In the 1962 classic “Sakta vi gå genom stan”, sung by Swedish jazz icon Monica Zetterlund, a walk such as that is described in timeless, romantic words:
“Åh det är skönt, när mitt Stockholm är grönt, sakta gå hem genom stan (…) Åh, det är natt, å på avstånd hörs skratt, en spårvagn går ensam och tom. Klockan är två, hela himlen är blå, hemligt går träden i blom. (..) En kyss, sen börja vandra igen, ensamma i hela stan…”.
In the 1982 song “Tidig Stockholmsmorgon”, sung by Turid, a fragile morning is described, where the romance is put on test, a conflict lingering from the night before. But in the wee small hours of the morning, with the window open to the “city still asleep”, a small window of reconciliation also opens:
“Mellan höghus, över vatten / Gryningsljus och skuggspelsmönster /Än en stund är staden stilla/
Å din hand e mjuk och varm/ Smek bort det som gjort mig illa /Lägg ditt huvud på min arm”
In 2016 Frida Hyvönen released the song “Min stad” which tells a tale of the reluctant relationship between Stockholm city and it’s many immigrates. The conflict of where you once left, where you feel like you belong and the city you want to make your home but don’t always feel home in:
“Tittar ut över min stad /Solen går upp på Gröna Lund /Slår en lov runt Gullmarsplan och dyker ner vid Hornstull /På bänken vid Mariaberget häller vi upp i glasen /Bland turisterna som fotar Riddarholmen och Gamla Stan och gamla solnedgången”
All of these songs, and their lyrics, inspired to the motif of the tapestry, where one might see a sunset or sunrise glisten on calm waters, and the title, which translates to “Wake, sleep, wander.”
To see more of the process behind the piece, go to the Studio Supersju website. To see the piece live: book a ticket on the regular guided tours through the website of Stockholm City Hall, and ask to see the “100-year anniversary tapestry”.
