Taking Root– On Soil Relations and Human Endeavors
18.4 2026 – 18.6 2026 Färgfabriken, Stockholm
Att slå rot (Taking Root) is a group exhibition interweaving questions concerning soil, migration, sorrow and, not least, care. Through contemporary artistic practice we explore how humans, plants, ideas and cultures take root – in the earth, in memory, in language and in new territories.
The exhibition features artists who delve into both the physical and metaphorical process of taking root – how we connect to a location, from migrants’ attempts to find a new home to ecological perspectives on seeds, soil types, trees under threat and conditions needed for taking root.
The Latin origin of the word ‘root’ comes from the term radix, radical. Being rooted also signifies to stand for something, to be dedicated. Simone Weil’s book The Need for Roots (1949), the Swedish version of which inspired the original name of this exhibition Att slå rot, presents roots as a human need, deeper than rights or ownership. She emphasises that humans need to feel rooted in a community, a culture and a place in order to create a meaningful life. Uprootedness, on the other hand, denotes a contrasting condition involving loss of identity, loss of meaning and connection – alienation.
But what happens when roots are not perceived in terms of a location? When home is a movement, a transition, an opacity? For philosopher Édouard Glissant, opacity is a necessary reminder that every human, every culture bears a depth that cannot be captured. Putting down roots is about living with the incomprehensible, allowing relationships to develop as you interact with the unknown. Glissant’s philosophy is that home is rarely a physical location but rather a process of interwoven relationships, memories, language and more; all of it in constant motion, with boundaries transforming into passageways.
These lines of thought serve here as possible entry points to the narrative framework of the exhibition, within which the artists’ works feature as independent stories while collectively forming a vibrant whole.
Taking Root is naturally an exhibition that reflects our current time period, in which the possibility of putting down roots is all too often taken away or simply denied. The actual connotation of ‘putting down roots’ differs. It is an issue that resonates differently depending on who is asking the question, in what context and of whom.
Photography by Johan Österholm, Färgfabriken
Almarna (The Elms)
On the night of May 11-12, 1971, was the time of ’Almstriden’. In Kungsträdgården, demonstrators had gathered for days to defend the trees.
During a 20-minute violent confrontation between the people and the authorities, the fate of the then century-old elms was decided, the trees remained in place.
At exactly the same time 53 years later at 02:00 on the night of May 12, 2024, a 20-minute newly written choral work for four singers was performed at the Elms.
Four singers exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen with the trees during the same period of time of Almstriden was decided.
The fragility of the exchange between humans and trees, carbon dioxide for oxygen, oxygen for carbon dioxide. It is natural, it is a form of communication.
But it is also an existential prerequisite for life on earth.
In 2025, the first elm in Kungsträdgården was infected with elm disease. On September 11 of the same year, the tree was sawn down.
The choral work is written by Lo Kristensson.
Singers are: Anna Danielsson Levin, Agnes Kofoed, Emma Augustsson and Linnéa Talp.
Cinematography: Adam Nilsson
Sound: Agnieszka Lewalski