Fredrik Strid - BLACK BOX

Black Box is a sculptural installation comprising three works: Black Box (Crate), Black Box (Table) and Black Box (Shelf). Together, they stage a raw and unruly encounter between nature and sculpture, centred on the reproductive cycle of fungi and the moment when life generates new life.

From a blackened residue, life-size mushrooms emerge, while the same material spills from the crate and becomes the raw material for sculptures in the making. The installation captures a moment between life and death, where new forms are summoned from the charred and decaying through sculptural translation and copying.

The three works form a cycle of transformation: something grows from the crate, is translated into sculpture on the table, and leaves its traces on the shelf. Black Box becomes an attempt to recreate nature through the tools of art.

Black Box (Crate)

A wooden crate with lifting hooks, reminiscent of an old shipping crate, stands as the source of the installation. Large black mushrooms force their way through its openings, while a dark residue spills through two large openings at the bottom and onto the floor.

Black Box (Table)

On the worktable, sculptures appear caught in different stages of making. Mushrooms are being modelled, copied and translated into sculpture using the same dark residue that spills from the crate. Tools, a modelling stand and other objects become part of this strange process of reproduction.

Black Box (Shelf)

A wall-mounted shelf bears traces and drips of the same dark residue that flows from the crate. The shelf becomes a surface of evidence—a place where the process of growth, copying and transformation leaves its mark.

The work was first exhibited at Tierps Konsthall Möbeln in 2020.

Links:
Dagens Nyheter