Abecita Pop Art & Photo Museum: Not your usual art museum

By Malin Norman | Photos: Abecita Pop Art & Photo Museum

At Abecita Pop Art & Photo Museum, you can view world-class photography and graphic art by icons such as Warhol, Hockney and Rauschenberg. This spring’s exhibitions depict the intimacy of everyday life, symmetry in architecture and the body as a work of art.

Across three floors in an old textile mill in Borås, you can experience unique photography and graphic art from Europe and the USA, as well as award-winning Nordic textile art. The impressive collection represents more than 50 artists from 1961 and onwards. “This is unlike any other art museum,” smiles Michaela Faily, museum director.

Abecita Pop Art & Photo Museum: Not your usual art museum

Patrik Wennerlund, My Body is a Work of Art.

Actually, it was never intended as a museum. Bengt and Berit Swegmark started collecting art in the 1970s. As time passed and their collection grew, it became clear that it had to be shared with others. The museum opened its doors in 2008. “It was a match made in heaven; the fantastic collection needed a home, and the old mill was available,” says Faily. “Abecita Pop Art & Photo is actually the largest photo museum in Sweden, in terms of space and number of exhibitions.”

Anna Clarén, Need to be Needed.

The museum presents around 15 exhibitions per year and every room offers something unexpected. This spring, visitors can experience the intimacy of everyday situations in Anna Clarén’s Need to be Needed, a heartfelt take on life with an autistic child, whilst Danish artist Inge Schuster’s playful The Art of Emptiness shows architecture with human elements, focusing on colour, form and symmetry.

John Hagby, Letter to My Younger Self.

In Patrik Wennerlund’s My Body is a Work of Art, the photographer shows closeups of his own body as a reaction to how young people have cosmetic surgery to make themselves more attractive. Another exciting display is John Hagby’s works of wisdom in Letter to My Younger Self, which was also shown in the summer of 2020. Finally, one space is usually reserved for street photography, and this spring Agneta Dellerfors presents Room for Street depicting humorous situations she has encountered on the street.

This summer, the museum will host Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin’s Portrait of a Photographer. She is most known for, and will be showing works from, the controversial exhibition Ecce Homo in 1998, which included modern versions of stories in the New Testament.

In addition to the exhibitions, there is also a lovely café and a book shop. Visitors can do guided tours if they wish, and have client meetings at the venue.