Fälla
Fälla is a site-specific public art commission developed for Malmö Dental School in Malmö, commissioned by the Swedish Public Art Agency (Statens Konstråd) and Akademiska Hus in 2002.
Fälla is a site-specific installation developed for the Malmö Dental School, conceived as a spatial investigation of color, light, and architectural orientation. The work uses painting not as surface decoration, but as a tool to articulate and activate the room’s structure and perceptual hierarchies.
The installation consists of several acrylic paintings on plexiglass, positioned to mark and emphasize key spatial elements within the architecture. In a smaller adjoining space, a flowing mass of epoxy pigment is strongly illuminated and concealed behind a frosted plexiglass panel. The light diffuses the color, transforming it into a luminous field that suggests depth without revealing its source.
Elsewhere in the space, color is physically suspended: a concentrated mass of pigment rests on a horizontal plexiglass shelf mounted high on the wall, creating a sense of balance and tension. Color is distributed across different planes—foreground, background, wall, and air—allowing the viewer’s movement through the room to activate shifting relationships between material, light, and perception.
One element of the work consists of oil paint applied to metal sheet, where the surface has been roughened using a spiked roller. This textured paint surface captures and reflects incoming light in a soft yet distinct manner, emphasizing the tactile qualities of color and its ability to register environmental conditions.
Through Fälla, color becomes both material and spatial agent—directing attention, defining thresholds, and subtly reshaping the experience of an everyday institutional environment.