Art Exhibit



Charlotte Gyllenhammar @ House of Sweden

At the east end of the Georgetown Waterfront, just under the Whitehurst Freeway, lies The House of Sweden. This spacious and light-bathed venue houses the Embassies of Sweden and Iceland, and often hosts a number of elegant events and exhibits. Its lawn, facing the Potomac River, is a beacon for picnickers and anyone looking for a comforting greenspace in busy Georgetown. Such a near-idyllic location makes Charlotte Gyllenhammar's claustrophobic, unsettling Hang, currently on display in the lower-level Alfred Nobel Hall, all the more striking.

A series of large, sumptuous c-prints and gelatin silver prints mounted on glass appear illumined from within, a gorgeous presentation for work about feeling trapped: by the clothes women wear, by the social constructs that require these delicate cages, by the camera's gaze. For Hang depicts women hung upside down, elaborate gowns billowing over them. Gyllenhammar photographed her models up from ground level, and the effect, at first, appears cocoon-like. But when you realize what you are looking at, the images of beauty become something more sinister, and are perhaps still more unsettling in this related video on the artist's website.

Hang is only the most recent work in which the artist has photographed women in suspension. Previous explorations of this theme include Belle (1998), Disobedience (1998), and Fall (1999). A 2009 sculpture, "In waiting," presents an infantile figure in Elizabethan collar and dress. Does the artist see the child as inevitably subject to the shackles of haute couture and all it signifies?

"In Waiting" provides a curious segue to the exhibits across the hall. An exercise in contrast if there ever was one, the House of Sweden has presently installed two playrooms and a collection of related Swedish design, which offer room for exploration and relaxation in an environment that is more than a little surreal.

Swedish Seeds presents fifty products designed for children with playfulness and safety in mind. These include a mop-rag dog "Ruff" which makes a soft, welcoming and pre-potty trained animal for safe climbing action, as well as backpacks, life jackets, a ski helmet and a rocking rabbit. I'm not sure why the latter is safer than a rocking horse, but I'll take their word for it. Faceless mannequins lend this room a surreal touch.

The playroom for older children, called Imagination Station, would not look out of place at IKEA (which in fact furnished the bright orange swivel chairs my niece enjoyed on a recent visit), but it is the infant playroom called Zero to One that really stands out. A smaller version of a 400-square-foot space in Sweden (documented in a video of frolicking that can be viewed on-site), this space, as the press release goes, "is an invitation to meet with your baby in spatial stillness, softness and music." This is all brought to you by the color white: white walls, white ceilings, white pillows; soft cages that Charlotte Gyllenhammar would have a field day with. I must testify that the relaxation angle doesn't work particularly well for the solo adult: I kind of threw my back out trying to extricate myself from the ground-level plush pillows – but I encourage friends and family to take their babies there and have at it, and perhaps re-enact scenes from Ingmar Bergman's Persona while you're there.

The House of Sweden is located at 2900 K Street NW.

Charlotte Gyllenhammar's Hang runs through May 1;

Swedish Seeds and Zero to One through April 24.