Info

Info

Madelaine Sillfors (b. 1982 Kiruna, Sweden) graduated from Umeå Academy of Fine Arts in 2014. frk.sillfors [@] gmail.com Upcoming group shows: Bjurholmsbiennalen july 2025 Österbottensmuseet, Vasa, November 2025 Västerbottensmuseet, Umeå, våren 2026
I am a mixed media artist based in Umeå, in the north of Sweden. Right now I mainly work with painting and the performance Sub Astra. Sub Astra is a performance I developed and perform together with my amazing colleagues Daniel Westman and Kenneth Hansson-Tornéus. Sub Astra is a video, sample, sound and live-performance dealing with the loss and sorrow I feel towards my home town Kiruna, that is slowly disappearing due to the mining industry connected to the city. I am also part of Art Alliance of the Arctic South, a group of artists based in the north of Sweden, Norway and Finland. We work to support each other in questions dealing with working in this part of the world, slightly in the periphery and in the middle of nowhere, we also create exhibitions together with the wonderful curator Vasia Rigou. Read more at: https://www.a-a-a-s.com/news/ During and after my studies I received the Bror Hjort Fellowship Drawing grant (2011), Anna-Lisa Thomson memorial grant (2014) and the Fredrika Bremer Fellowship grant (2013). Selected exhibitions: Offside #2 - performance festival in Vasa, Finland, Uppsala Art Museum, Bildmuseet (Umeå), Verkligheten, Umeå, Bror Hjorts Hus (Uppsala), Galleri CC (Malmö), ZK/U (Berlin), Hilbertraum (Berlin), Detroit/Stockholm. I participated in Artist-In-Residency programs at the Bauhaus Stiftung in Dessau, Germany, in Majdal Shams, Occupied Golan Hights, and at Interface Art Residency, Inagh, Ireland.

Resumé

Education

2024 Painting, Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå University
2012-2014 Master program, Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå University
2008-2013 Aesthetics 60 hp, Umeå University
2009-2012 Bachelor program, Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå University
2008-2009 Specialized course year at Umeå Art School.
2007-2008 Basic art education at Umeå Art School.
2006-2007 History of Economics and Katastrofer och undergångsstämningar 7.5p (Catastrophies and the sense of doom), Umeå Universitet.
2005-2006 History of Economics 60p (old system equals 90p now) Stockholm University.

Solo Exhibitions

2025 Det var ett egendomligt ljus den dan, Juste Gallery, Stockholm
2023 Sillfors&Bäver collab. Konstfrämjandet i Västerbotten.
2022 Ostilla Natt, Galleri Alva, Umeå.
2020 FÄLLA, GRAAL, FILT, PORTAL (TRAP, GRAAL, BLANKET, PORTAL), Galleri Verkligheten, Umeå.
2018 Every grain a color, Nordic Councel of Ministers, Copenhagen.
2018 Förvildad (Wild), at Villa Ingeborg, Cagnes-sur-mer, France.
2017 Sila/Sift, at Galleri CC, Malmö
2016 Drawings, at Kiruna City Hall, Kiruna Konstgille, Kiruna
2014 The Masterpiece, at Galleriet Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå
2012 American Piece One, at The Dust Gallery, Umeå
2012 The Animal People, two-person exhibition with Lisa Vipola, at Galleri Maskinen, Umeå.
2011 Stipend exhibition at Bror Hjort's Hus, Uppsala

Performances

2024 Sub Astra, performance at Offside #2 performance festival, Vasa, Finland.
2024 Sub Astra, performance at Swedish American Museum, Chicago.
2023 Sub Astra, at Performance autumn at Bildmuseet, Umeå

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025 Lay of(f) the Land, The Museum Of Danish America, Iowa.
2024 Lay of(f) the Land, Swedish American Museum, Chicago.
2023 The river/Älven at Galleri Verkligheten, Umeå, Konstfrämjandet i Västerbotten.
2022 Where does the river flow? Mareld Västerbotten Konstförening, Umeå
2021 Find Us, Galleri NOS, during SuperMarket, Stockholm
2019 100 – En grupputställning med 100 nordiska konstnärer, Galleri CC, Malmö
2018 Die freie Variable, Schimmel Projects, Dresden, Germany
2018 Location fuck me, Den Nordiske Ambassade, Copenhagen, Denmark.
2017 Surface Tension, Interface Art Residency, Inagh, Ireland
2017 Tunnelsyn, Detroit, Stockholm
2017 Switch, at Hilbert Raum, Berlin, Germany.
2016 Desk in Exile – Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany.
2016 Art – young perspectives, Konstfrämjandet, Lindängen, Malmö.
2014 Anna-Lisa Thomson in memory, stipend exhibition, Uppsala Art Museum, Uppsala.
2014 Maskinen Art Boat, Umeå/Vaasa.
2014 Konst i Ån, Norrtälje Konsthall, Norrtälje.
2014 Cultural Capital, ZK/U, Berlin. Curator Victor Neumann.
2014 The Language of Color, Slakthuset, Stockholm.
2014 Cultural Capital. Master exhibition, Bildmuseet, Umeå. Curator Victor Neumann.
2013 This place has no mirrors but only your thoughts in the water and they will spread all around with the waves. Golamea project. Galleriet, Umeå.

Curated

2019 100 – A group exhibition of 100 nordic artists, together with and at Galleri CC, Malmö
2019 Education through Art – Magdalena Nordin, Galleri CC, Malmö
2019 Underlying resonance, Galleri CC, Malmö
2017 Ozymandias, Galleri CC, Malmö
2017 I hate Nature and Nature hates Me – Wenche Chrusell, Galleri CC, Malmö
2016 Resistans – Sara Alfredsson, Galleri CC, Malmö

Residence

2017 Interface Art Residency, Inagh, Ireland
2016 BauhausLab2016, Dessau, Germany
2012 Occupied Golanheights, Majdal Shams, Israel.

Grants and Stipends

2021 Project Support from Kulturrådet for AAAS with Linnea Dimitriou
2021 Mobility grant, Regional art coordinators of Västerbotten.
2020 Project funding, Nordisk Kulturfond
2018 Opstart project funding, Nordisk Kulturfond
2018 Aase & Richard Björklunds fond
2016 Malmö City Studio Grant
2014 Anna-Lisa Thomson in memory.
2014 Lindell-stipend, Grafikens Hus Vänner
2013 Fredrika Bremer-foundation-stipend
2013 SJCK-stipend
2012 KU-grant for the project Latent, with Johanna Hästö, Gerd Aurell, Ida Persson.
2012 Anders Sandrews foundation's Art Stipend
2011 Baltic Internationalisation Stipend
2011 KU-grant to travel through US, with the project Legacy of the Land, with Ann Edholm.
2011 Bror Hjort Hus's drawing stipend
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