Eric Magassa (b. 1972) is an artist based in Gothenburg, Sweden, whose practice encompasses collage, painting, photography and video – often combined in multifaced, large-scale installations. His distinctive colourful compositions evolve around decolonial narratives, identity, place and belonging. By processing different archives and unfolding visual patterns in frequently neglected spaces, he explores modes of looking and thinking that in many ways disrupt the narrow aesthetics of the canonised white cube.
Magassa studied at Central Saint Martins in London, and the Art Students League of New York. He has exhibited widely, including at institutions like Malmö Konsthall (2023), Tensta Konsthall (2021–22) and Moderna Museet Stockholm (2018), as well as biennials like the Gwangju Biennale (2024), Borås Art Biennial (2024) and Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA [2019]).
ERIC MAGASSA
Lives and works in Gothenburg, Sweden
EDUCATION
The Art Students League of New York (1996–2000)
Central Saint Martins – University of the Arts London (1992–1994)
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Eat Coconuts While You Have Teeth, Lidköpings konsthall
2023 A Love Supreme, Slussen, as part of the project Konstväxlingar, Stockholm
2023 The Stena Foundation Culture Scholarship 2022, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Gothenburg
2022 Every Eye Open, Konsthallen Trollhättan
2022 Spells, Mini Galerie, Amsterdam
2022 Messages from the Stars, Bohusläns museum, Uddevalla
2022 Griot, Kungsbacka Konsthall
2021 Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky, Österängens Konsthall, Jönköping
2020 May the Colors Last All Night, Passagen Konsthall, Linköping
2019 Talking Drum, Konstepidemin, Gothenburg
2019 Horizon, Valongo Festival, Santos
2019 Finders Keepers (Losers Weepers), Skeldershus, Munka-Ljungby
2019 Tell Me a Tale of Lies, Alingsås konsthall
2018 Residency Exhibition, Popps Packing, Detroit
2016 Sunburns, Nevven, Gothenburg
2014 Sit In the Middle and Forget, Göteborgs Konstförening, Gothenburg
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Transmissions, Skånes Konstförening
2024 Imagine An After, Tensta Konsthall
2024 Let Time Run its Course, The 9th Çanakkale Biennial, Çanakkale, Turkey
2024 Inseparable Distance, 15th Gwangju Biennale, Swedish pavilion, Gwangju, Republic of Korea
2024 Vi behöver varann – konstverk ur Haninge kommuns konstsamling, Haninge konsthall
2024 Systerskap, fyrhus och frihet – verk ur Alingsås kommuns konstsamling 2021–2023, Alingsås konsthall
2024 As Dreamers Do, Bohusläns museum, Uddevalla
2024 Gränstrakt/Borderland, Malmö Konstmuseum
2024 Layers, Loops, Lines, Borås Art Biennial
2024 Los Raros/Las Raras: New Narratives of Contemporary Collage, La Pasión Municipal Exhibition Hall, Valladolid
2024 To Build a Home, Mini Galerie, Amsterdam
2023 Vävda rum, Sveriges Konstföreningar
2023 Jag föreställer mig ett hem, Göteborgs Konsthall, Gothenburg
2023 FLIGHT, Malmö Konsthall
2022 Var egentligen börjar någonting? Wanås Konst
2022 Att tänka annorlunda, Luleå Konsthall
2021 Phantoms of the Commons, Tensta Konsthall
2021 History’s Footnote: On Love and Freedom, Marre House for Contemporary Culture, Maastricht
2021 Vägsjälen, Köttinspektionen, Uppsala
2021 Horisont Hospitalet, Konstfrämjandet Uppsala
2020 Under samma regnbåge, Uppsala Konstmuseum
2019 19–19 – En konsthistoria från 1919 till 2019, Västerås Konstmuseum
2019 Part of the Labyrinth, Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (GIBCA), Gothenburg
2019 Kosmisk kastrering, Gallery NTK, Prague
2018 The Moderna Exhibition 2018 – With the Future Behind Us, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
2018 Tribute to Viborg, Viborg, Denmark
2017 Konvergenser III, Nevven, Gothenburg
2017 Lilla Göteborg, Raum Vollreinigung, Berlin
2016 Object Matter, Mini Galerie, Amsterdam
2016 Konvergenser II, Nevven, Gothenburg
2015 Tombola parksalong, Gothenburg
2015 13Festivalen, Konstepidemin, Gothenburg
2014 Dear Bedfellows, Dear Painting, Fullersta Gård, Stockholm
2015 Col.la.ge II, Mini Galerie, Amsterdam
2013 Col.la.ge, Mini Galerie, Amsterdam
2012 New Times New Works, Galleri Konstepidemin, Gothenburg
2012 Tombola parksalong, Gothenburg
2011 This Must Be the Place, Vasa Konsthall, Gothenburg
Photo: Peter Claesson
SELECTED PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
Karolinska University Hospital, Huddinge; Bostadsbolaget, Norra Biskopsgården; Bävern Busstation, Visby (Region Gotland); Röselidsskolan (Municipality of Lerum); Brottkärrsskolan, Askim (Municipality of Gothenburg); Gullbrandstorps förskola (Municipality of Halmstad)
WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
Moderna Museet, Public Art Agency Sweden, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Malmö Konstmuseum, Skövde Konstmuseum, Västerås Konstmuseum, Sveriges Allmänna Konstförening (SAK), City of Gothenburg, City of Västerås, City of Örebro, Municipality of Alingsås, Municipality of Falkenberg, Municipality of Gislaved, Municipality of Haninge, Municipality of Kungsbacka, Municipality of Lidköping, Municipality of Linköping, Municipality of Luleå, Municipality of Sundbyberg, Municipality of Uppsala, Region Gävleborg, Region Halland, Region Stockholm, Region Uppsala, Region Västra Götaland, Region Östergötland, Hägerstensåsens medborgarhus, the Stena Foundation, and various private collections
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Svenska förvärv 2021 (Moderna Museet/Art & Theory Publishing, 2024)
313 (Blackbook Publications, 2024)
FLIGHT (Malmö Konsthall, 2023)
Peripheral Vision: Images from the Fringe of Europe (Art & Theory Publishing, 2023)
Biennials as Sites of Historical Narration – Thinking through Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art (Mousse Publishing, 2022)
In & Beyond Sweden: Journeys Through an Art Scene (Art & Theory Publishing, 2018)
Glänta, no. 1.21, 2021
Notes: Letters to Photography, no. 4, Spring–Summer 2018
Barbed Magazine, issue no. 6, Spring 2018