Studio 207 · 20 → 23 November, 12:00 –18:00
The Toxins Colour System extends Jonsson’s long-term exploration of iron’s environmental legacies by investigating the ecological consequences of historical mining at the Litlabø pyrite mines on Stord, southwestern Norway. The project examines iron- and sulfur-rich runoff from the discontinued mines, transforming these pollutants into pigments for ochre-colored glass as part of a speculative remediation process. Framed within pyrite’s industrial history, the work asks whether the very minerals once exploited for industry can now enable remediation through contemporary craft.
Cecilia Jonsson is an artist whose site-specific practice bridges art, science, and ecology. Over the past decade, she has developed a research-based approach that explores the interconnectedness of living and non-living systems, transforming matter and perception through poetic readings of the real. Working across installation, sculpture, sound, and image, she explores raw materials such as water, iron, and stone, to explore how materiality plays a central role carrying social, ecological, and political narratives, often developed through collaboration with scientists and local communities.
Jonsson holds an MA in Fine Art from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design and the Nordic Sound Art MFA program and has exhibited internationally across Europe, Asia and Australia. Her artistic work has received international recognition such as the Bio Art & Design Awards, an Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica, Hybrid Art, and VIDA 16.0 Art & Artificial Life International Awards. At present she holds a three-year working grant from the Arts Council Norway and is an invited artist in Anthropogenic Soils – Recuperating Human-Soil Relationships on a Troubled Planet (SOILS), in collaboration with the University of Oslo. Originally from Sweden, she currently lives in the Netherlands.