NSFW proudly presents "stupid pictures" with Barbara Marstrand, Ji Songyin, and Josefin Johansson Hedman.
What makes a picture “stupid”? In what situations is this judgment rendered, and on what grounds? The exhibition stupid pictures explores the fine line between intelligence and stupidity in photography, questioning how images shift in meaning depending on their context. Playing with hierarchies of images and gaps in the material, through negative spaces, suspended authorship and blurred responsibilities, three photographic practices encourage reflection on the power structure of images.
"Transport" by Barbara Marstrand engages with photography’s relation to context through isolation and rearrangement of motifs. Fourteen photographs taken on the move—through the window of a bus, from inside a car, or during a walk in the urban landscape—offer a sensation of drifting around. Each photograph is arranged on a metal structure as part of a network in which its meaning is determined by its relation to the whole. In seats 1-2, the arrangement centres on the principles of repetition and displacement, emphasising that meaning depends not only on context but also on rational choices.
“Goodbye” by Ji Songyin redefines “bad photographs” through crowdsourcing and exhibiting more than 300 everyday photographs taken by the Chinese public, submitted by themselves under this category. All images have been included, presented in a stream that flows from a sink and spreads across the floor. Photographed and collected during the free falling era from 2020 to 2023 and since put on hold, this exhibition marks their return to the public sphere. The interval raises a question: In the act of archiving, what is preserved, and what is irrevocably altered in the act of preservation itself?
"tabloid dreamscape" by Josefin Johansson Hedman explores the paradoxes of paparazzi photography; positioned at the bottom of the photographic hierarchy, yet indispensable in our collective visual culture. Presented are works consisting of photographs taken by paparazzi, subsequently laser-engraved on acrylic glass: the engraving anonymizes the subjects to highlight the actions, capturing the inherent violence of the paparazzi gaze and the subjects’ gestures of resistance. This transformation exposes the paradox of an industry fueled by public adoration and the aggressive commodification of privacy.
→ Josefin Johansson Hedman (b. 1993) is a Swedish artist educated at HDK-Valand, working at the intersection of photography, sculpture, and installation. By merging archival material with industrial elements such as acrylic glass, aluminum, and laser engraving, she recontextualizes existing imagery to create new semantic layers. Her practice constitutes a critical investigation of power relations and systemic structures. Drawing on themes of feminism, capitalism, and neoliberalism, she analyzes the connections between social structures, class, and collective behavior. Through fragmentation and transparency, the viewer’s perception is deconstructed, forcing an active reflection on the socio-economic and psychological frameworks that shape our contemporary world.
→ Barbara Marstrand (b. 1994, Denmark) holds an MFA in photography from HDK-Valand and an MA in sociology from the University of Copenhagen. She is interested in the relationship between visual art and logic; how logic is inherent in visual art, and how visual art challenges logic. In her works, photographs are treated as component parts, forming narratives when assembled into solid structures.
→ Ji Songyin (b. 1999, China) is an Shanghai/Gothenburg based artist and researcher working across photography, installation, and writing. His practice is built around two interlocking frameworks: image compost, in which images sediment into environments through density rather than disappearance; and folding, in which independently orientalised structures encounter one another through a migratory body that produces affective recognitions. Fieldwork spans Swedish-Chinese restaurants, post-socialist architectural spaces in Eastern Europe, and Chinese diasporic communities.