HÅRDHANDSKAR MED FINGERTOPPSKÄNSLA
Solo exhibition at Köttsinpektionen Konsthall, Uppsala, 2026
Curator: Alba Foldago
With a title that brings together two apparently contradictory expressions from Swedish political jargon, Hårdhandskar med Fingertoppskänsla introduces the solo exhibition of artist Maria Safronova Wahlström at Köttinspektionen. This enunciation refers to the idea of handling something with both firmness and tact—playing a hard ball while keeping a sensitive touch. Two opposing gestures that could also converge in a broader concept often described as “soft power.” A very accurate reference to the works Safronova Wahlström presents here: both new and earlier pieces that explore the contradictions intrinsic to contemporary politics and social life.
Paradoxes and inconsistencies are recurring topics in Safronova Wahlström ’s practice. Her work often departs from small yet illustrative observations on how individuals behave within larger systems. For example, in the familiar situation of a job interview. Candidates are encouraged to be original, to think outside the box, to lead and introduce change. Yet what is often expected from them once hired is something quite different: understanding, adaptation, and obedience. These expectations are often unspoken, but they still manage to shape our behaviour. For Safronova Wahlström, such moments reveal the silent negotiations between individuality and conformity that structure everyday life.
The works in the exhibition materialise these tensions. Carefully designed and crafted, they appear both familiar and dysfunctional. A soft and flexible demolition hammer rests on a shelf; a swing, the structure of which is made of blades; twisted design objects sitting on specially constructed plinths. Through these altered tools, Safronova Wahlström alludes to how bodies and minds bend to authority and established rules, and in doing so, become contradictory in themselves—traitors to their own nature, ideals and convictions.
At the same time, Safronova Wahlström reflects on the visual language of consumption. In the same way than product-photography is designed to stimulate desire, her works adopt a seductive appearance. Yet instead of having a practical function, they become carriers of contradiction, useless commodities. They expose one of the ever-present logics of capitalism: the need of ownership, which dominates over any other kind of relationship with objects, or even people.
In Safronova Wahlström’s carefully composed exhibition at Köttinspektionen, these reflections converge into a space that resembles a kind of purgatory. A place in which laws and structures, originally designed to organise a better life, instead hold us suspended. Movement becomes difficult; disagreement risky; creativity constrained.
Text: Alba Foldago
Paradoxes and inconsistencies are recurring topics in Safronova Wahlström ’s practice. Her work often departs from small yet illustrative observations on how individuals behave within larger systems. For example, in the familiar situation of a job interview. Candidates are encouraged to be original, to think outside the box, to lead and introduce change. Yet what is often expected from them once hired is something quite different: understanding, adaptation, and obedience. These expectations are often unspoken, but they still manage to shape our behaviour. For Safronova Wahlström, such moments reveal the silent negotiations between individuality and conformity that structure everyday life.
The works in the exhibition materialise these tensions. Carefully designed and crafted, they appear both familiar and dysfunctional. A soft and flexible demolition hammer rests on a shelf; a swing, the structure of which is made of blades; twisted design objects sitting on specially constructed plinths. Through these altered tools, Safronova Wahlström alludes to how bodies and minds bend to authority and established rules, and in doing so, become contradictory in themselves—traitors to their own nature, ideals and convictions.
At the same time, Safronova Wahlström reflects on the visual language of consumption. In the same way than product-photography is designed to stimulate desire, her works adopt a seductive appearance. Yet instead of having a practical function, they become carriers of contradiction, useless commodities. They expose one of the ever-present logics of capitalism: the need of ownership, which dominates over any other kind of relationship with objects, or even people.
In Safronova Wahlström’s carefully composed exhibition at Köttinspektionen, these reflections converge into a space that resembles a kind of purgatory. A place in which laws and structures, originally designed to organise a better life, instead hold us suspended. Movement becomes difficult; disagreement risky; creativity constrained.
Text: Alba Foldago
