Åsa Jungnelius, Solo Exhibition
A Verse, Written with Earth, Fire, Water, and Air
Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
16.9.2025 – 18.1.2026
Invitation to the Opening: 15.9.2025, 7PM
Swedish artist Åsa Jungnelius’s first solo exhibition in Turkey, A Verse Written with Earth, Fire, Water, and Air, curated by Elif Kamışlı, explores the relationship between material and the human through the enduring functional forms of glass, which have existed for thousands of years, as well as through its journey across artistic narratives.
In the exhibition space, conceived as a landscape that evokes both stillness and density, Jungnelius’s recent glass and marble sculptures—together with four new works created specifically for this exhibition in collaboration with glassworkers in Denizli—invite viewers to reflect on the relationship between maker and material.
Historical glass objects, archaeological finds, found materials, and handwoven cords rooted in nomadic traditions are displayed within a scaffold structure built into the gallery space. This constellation, alongside photographs by Swedish photographer Peo Olsson documenting the artist’s research into obsidian fields in Bitlis, Van, and Kars, invites us to reverse our vertical perception of time.
Shaped through the interplay of glass—unsettling in its fragility—and stone—powerful in its permanence—this exhibition can be seen as a tribute to those who compose their own verse with the help of the four elements: Earth, Fire, Water and Air.
In many of her hand-blown glass works and marble sculptures, Jungnelius engages directly with history, function, labor, mastery, and the unknown. Her perceptive relationship with the material opens a new path, offering a viewing experience grounded in presence, rather than words.
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About the Artist Åsa Jungnelius
Åsa Jungnelius, born 1975 in Fisksätra, is a Swedish artist with a broad creative pallet-designer, university lecturer, entrepreneur, artistic director, educator and since 2022 honorary doctor at Linnaeus University in Växjö. In her teens, she trained as a glassblower at Kosta Boda and between 1998 – 2004 she took her master’s degree in ceramics and glass at Konstfack. Åsa Jungnelius lives and works today in Månsamåla, Småland. Her work is included in the collections of Moderna Museet Stockholm, Nationalmuseum Stockholm, European Parliament Art Collection in Brussels, Malmö Konstmuseum, Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Växjö kommun, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft Danmark, National Swedish Art Council, Stockholms läns landsting, Skövde Konstmuseum, Röhsska Museet, Smålands Museum and The Glass Factory in Boda. Her most recent major public art commissions include the new Hagastaden metro station in Stockholm, for which she created Snäckan, a commission she has been working on since 2015 and is expected to be completed in 2027. Her first solo exhibition in Turkey, A Verse Written with Earth, Fire, Water, and Air, curated by Elif Kamışlı, will be on view at Pera Museum from 16 September 2025 to 18 January 2026. Åsa Jungnelius has been represented by Spazio Nobile since 2021.
