Inauguration on 16 June, 2026, between 11:00 – 12:00 at Tegelbacken, Stockholm.
Right in the Stockholm city centre, at Rödbodtorget next to Tegelbacken, a new space for contemporary art is taking shape. On the initiative of Stockholm Konst, Plinten – a permanent venue for temporary art – is being inaugurated. Plinten establishes a new platform in the city’s public spaces, where art meets the flow of everyday life. First up is Berlin-based artist Sally von Rosen, who has created a site-specific sculpture for the opening on 16 June.
Inspired by international projects such as the Fourth Plinth in London, Stockholm Konst creates a flexible space for both invited artists and collaborations with art institutions. The plinth is a neutral, robust structure that allows for a constant variety of artistic expressions – from sculptures to experimental installations.
The first guest artist is Sally von Rosen, whose work revolves around movement and the body. The figurative meets the abstract in her sculptural works. Human and animal elements are interwoven to form wondrous bodies. These enigmatic figures, which spark the imagination, have no fixed identity but seem to be in a state of constant transformation. The gaze leads the mind to a range of different associations. Legs taking a leap. A torso with a tongue or a tail. A pregnant belly and animals with hooves rearing up. The bodily fragments are united here in a peculiar choreography. Many become one. The entire emotional spectrum – from the tender to the unsettling – is expressed through movements and gestures.
The artist attaches great importance to the symbolism in the visual expression. In art, the tongue can represent freedom of speech, but also the uncontrollable connection between thought and action. The rearing horse, in turn, is a classic motif, associated with power and a sense of balance. Pregnancy symbolises the potential for change.
The body has always been a key starting point for Sally von Rosen’s creative work. Her characteristic, evocative style has been naturally shaped by the theatrical environment in which the artist grew up. But inspiration also comes from the complex, sinuous forms of Baroque art, where the dramatic and the grandiose play a significant role. The sensual forms in von Rosen’s works bring to mind both the art of ballet and one of the greatest classics of world literature – Ovid’s Metamorphoses, myths that deal with transformations and existential journeys between life and death.
Ultimately, von Rosen’s art is about an emotional encounter between the viewer and the unexpected within what we seem to recognise. At Plinten, near the Stockholm City Hall and the democratic institutions, the work functions as a response to the site’s already established layers of meaning, revealing the unique within the universal and the dynamic within the static.
For more information, please visit Stockholm Konst's website.
