Art work “Cumulus”

Type of work: Larger light installation

Materials: Crocheted fishing line in the diameter of 1.00 mm

Size: 3,5 x 2,5 x 1,5 metres

Year: 2025

Temporary placement:  Sofiero Castle Garden, Helsingborg, Sweden

Photo: Martin Billberg (above)

About the work: During the light event Höstljus at Sofiero in Helsingborg, Sweden, a cloud of 40 km fishing line was installed. Höstljus was open between October 26th until November 9th between 4.30 and 9 pm. The 40 km fishing line is crocheted by hand by the artist and was lit into a cloud of rain and thunder in collaboration with light designer Viktor Hallonsten.

Material: Ceramics

Size: 2,30 x 2,80 x 0,2 cm & 2,10 x 1 x 0,2 cm

Year: 2024

Place:  Regementsvägen 4B och 6B in Helsingborg, Sweden

About the work: In April 2023, the collaborative art work “Arbor Amorosa” was inaugurated at Stadskvarteret in Drottninghög, Helsingborg. The commissioner was Helsingborgshem and the art work was made by HKP – Helsingborgs konstproduktion with the artist members Joanna Thede, Rita Winde, Josefine Axelsson, Karin Frennesson Westblad and Rikki Winde.

“Arbor Amorosa” is made in ceramics by hand by the five artists and is installed in two passages in the residential buildings of Helsingborgshem.

Here are some images of the installation process:

Materials: Acrylic paint on concrete

Size: Approximately 22 x 6 x 5 m + 22 x 6 x 5 m (on either side of the road)

Year: 2022

Place: Gustav Adolfs gata, Gåsebäck industrial area in Helsingborg

Photo: Sarah Perfekt

About the work: In 2022, the public artwork “Gåsebäcks kulturportal” was made as a
collaboration within HKP – Helsingborgs Konstproduktion (Helsingborg’s Art Production), a studio association at Gåsebäck industrial area in Helsingborg. Five contemporary artists are the co-authors of this work: Rita Winde, Karin Frennesson Westblad, Josefine Axelsson, Rikki Winde and Joanna Thede. The idea for the work came from crocheted granny squares where all five artists each made a pattern template which was then painted on the walls in a grid like a quilt. The north and the south sides of the portal each contains a caryatid, a female figure that appears to be holding up parts of the traffic bridge above.

Commissioned by: Laholm’s municipality, Sweden

Place: Vallmons preschool in the city of Laholm in Sweden

Material: Light installation

Size: 250 x 100 x 35 cm

Year: 2022

About the commission: “Spring Twig” in Laholm is an art work that is hand carved out of balsa wood in the shape of a branch. There are drawings of leaves on five plexiglass pieces fixated in the branch. An integrated led light make it possible to light the leaves in different colours. There is a DVD hanging from the branch like a drop, and a rainbow may be lit on the wall behind the Spring twig, which the kids can then see and try to touch. The art work is installed as part of an inner room where the children get together and play and relax in the preschool of Vallmon. The art work was inaugurated in June 2022.

Commissioned by: Uddevalla municipality, Sweden

Place: Källdalsskolan in the city of Uddevalla in Sweden

Material: Print on glass

Size: 313 x 304 x 5 cm

Year: 2020

About the commission: “Stråk” in Uddevalla is an art work, printed on glass by PrintGlas in Stockholm. The art work is installed as part of the main entry at the leisure building at the school Källdalsskolan. The school with the new art work was inaugurated in September 2020.

One part of the commission contained working with pupils, and in some way re-use their material in the finished work. The pupils got the task to write down what they really like doing in their free time, except for anything related to a screen. Their contributions were inserted as elements in the pattern of the local map, forming the art work. The pupils’ own favourite spare time actions are now imprinted into the building of the leisure centre, where many of them will spend some their spare time.

Place: Northwood Children’s Hospice in Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Material: Adhesive fourcolour print

Size: 160 x 118 cm

Years: 2017-2019

About the work: Refractions is a digital photography of a light refraction made with a torch and a DVD onto a white wall indoors. The photo is then digitally reworked into a pattern for a contravision print, produced for and installed onto a double glass door at Northwood Children’s Hospice which is a children’s hospice in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The installation of the contravision print has the function of a blind: making it impossible from the outside to see through the windows, at the same time letting full day light through and keeping the view intact from inside the room.

The contravision material was installed during 2 years.

Photos: Ruth Nesbit

From the outside:

From the inside:

Commissioned by: Borås’ municipality, Sweden

Place: Round-about outside the zoo of Borås

Material: Light installation

Planned size of sculpture: 13 x 10 x 3,8 metres

Year: 2015

About the commission: January 2015 marked the deadline for a sketching competition in a round-about in Borås in Sweden. The pre-ordered theme for the public sculpture was “Africa and savannah animals”, as the round-about is leading to the zoo of Borås. The title word Karibuni is swahili and means Welcome!

My idea for the sculpture was to emphazise on the traces of the animals, as one does on a real safari: looking for traces of them. The footsteps of animals is a natural and welcome sign of where to find them out on the savannah.

The material of the sculpture was intended to be a rust-opposing metal called corten steel with integrated light. Four large “legs” of this metal holds up the paths for where the animals have been walking: in this case lion, rhino, and buffalo. These model images show the night view of the sculpture. Unfortunately, I did not win the competition so the art work remains as a sketch.

Photo montage, view from the west:

Detail, scale 1:1 in metal with integrated light.

Images of the sketching model, scale 1:50.

The gate is designed in collaboration with Architect SAR/MSA Inger Thede. The figure shows the form of the stream through Råå as it were around the year of 1800. The material is perforated metal, powder-lacquered in a dark grey-blueish tone, and is made with the help of Sånna Smide in Kvidinge.
During the night time, there is a silhouette of light tracing the left side of the figure. Strings of LED lights between the perforated metal and the figure are installed by Råå Elektriska.

More images in day light:

The commission was won by David Svensson.

Here the prototype is placed in direct light, which makes the more transparent nature of the plexiglass thread forward.

Underneath is an image of the reflections given by the prototype when direct light bounces off the material surfaces onto a shaded wall.

Public Commission, 1995

In 1995, I won a competition by MKB – the municipal building company in Malmö – of designing the exterior colours of 16 buildings of 4 floors and 1 building of 8 floors, the latter of which included an artistic commission of the northern exterior facade.
The pattern is in colours ranging from blue to green in 8 steps forming a giant wave across the facade. The white stripes indicate the staircases and make the colour play of the total surface appear more distinct. The colour design on the surrounding houses in the area are calmer with colour graduations in three steps in the same green and blue tints as in the wave, with an additional third colour of darker red.

Artist: Joanna Thede
Commissioned by Malmö Kommunala Bostadsbolag
Photography: Joanna Thede 2012

Place: Brommagatan 16-18, Tågaborg in Sweden

Material: Ceramic tiles

Year: 1995

About the commission:  The commission was to design the patterns of tile formations around the entrances and windows on two new buildings. The tiles are glazed with chamotte, so called Sydney-tiles from the factory in Höganäs north of Helsingborg in Sweden. The twin buildings were each given a pattern of tiles which responded to, as well as differed from, its neighbour in colour and style. The left one is stricter while the right one has a more vivid expression.

Artist: Joanna Thede
Architects: Michelsen Arkitekter in 1995
Photo: Joanna Thede 2022

Exterior colour design of the area Sorgenfri in Malmö with 4 buildings of 8 floors and 12 buildings of 4 floors. The colours are graduated from the groundfloor and upwards with darker to lighter nuances in yellow, red, green and blue, giving each block its own tint as was the wish of the commissioner MKB – the municipal building company in Malmö. Colours ranging from darker to lighter and not too much pastel became an important part in this commission.

Artist: Joanna Thede
Architect: Sten Samuelsson in 1953
Commissioned by Malmö Kommunala Bostadsbolag
Photography: Joanna Thede 2012