Lund Art Gallery 30 May – 30 August 2026
Valeria Montti Colque, Esben Weile Kjær, Ihsan Saad, Ihsan Tahir and Matilda Tjäder
This summer's exhibition consists of large-scale installations by four contemporary artists active in the region. The expressions and materials vary – their works range from sculpture, object, installation and performance – but the artistry is united in the conceptual examination of their own time and in references to global popular culture.
The exhibition draws on avant-garde writer Gertrude Stein's experimental relationship with language, where the essence and transformation of words are emphasized through repetition and flow. The phrase "a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose", which gives the exhibition its title, first appeared in her poem Sacred Emily (1913). Stein was interested in the ambiguity of words in repetitive combinations that emphasized their form and sound rather than their actual meanings.
Stein's logic becomes a way of approaching the artworks in the exhibition: as direct expressions where meaning arises visually, through rhythm and sound, but also in relation to an underlying reality. This is noticeable in how the works relate to both the architecture of the exhibition space and to each other.
A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose wants to highlight the immediacy of art while simultaneously showing the potential of its indeterminacy. In this way, the exhibition also reflects how our individual experiences, understandings, perceptions and ideals are reshaped over time.
Image: Esben Weile Kjær, PEARL, 2025. Still image from performance, Amant, New York. Photo: the artist
Curators: Paula Luduşan Gibe, Sara Rossling