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The Enchanted Forest

A Divertimento
July 4 – August 17, 2025

This summer, with inspiration from 18th-century divertimentos, Artipelag brings together art, music and dance in an immersive and vibrant totality in the Artipelag Artbox: The Enchanted Forest.

Täta gröna träd gränsar till en lugn sjö, med reflektioner i vattnet och ett gräsbevuxet område syns i bakgrunden.
Lars Nilsson, Park II (2011). Photo: Lars Nilsson.

Information

Ticket sales will open shortly.

The exhibition is on view in the Artbox.

Artipelag can be reached by direct bus, public transport, car, and boat.

From Tuesday to Sunday, Artipelag’s own direct buses run between Cityterminalen and Artipelag. A one-way ticket costs SEK 50 and the journey takes approximately 30 minutes.

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Book a bus ticket to Cityterminalen, Stockholm


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About the Exhibition

Between 1776 and 1785, King Gustav III organised a number of spectacular total works of art, featuring tournaments, theatre, revelry, art and music. They were called carousels or divertimentos. The last and most extravagant of these – The Invasion of the Enchanted Forest – was held in August 1785 in the Drottningholm Palace gardens. This is what sparked the summer events at Artipelag, featuring eleven artists, two composers and one choreographer.

– With Gustav III’s divertimento as our point of departure, we present an immersive experience that blurs the line between reality and imagination. The Enchanted Forest contains some forty works that together give ample food for thought. With dance, music, installations and sculptures, the mythology of the enchanted forest is imbued with medieval and romantic notions of nature. We hope the new and dynamic formats will surprise our visitors, says Bo Nilsson, director of Artipelag.

Participants

Tiril Hasselknippe (NO), Joakim Ojanen (SE), Berndnaut Smilde (NL), Charlotte Gyllenhammar (SE), Cristina Caprioli (IT/SE), Carsten Höller (DE), Diana Orving (SE), Barbara Ellison (IE), Lars Nilsson (SE), Kim Hedås (SE), Fredrik Wretman (SE), Berlinde De Bruyckere (BE), Ernst Billgren (SE) och Lars Wallin (SE).

Photos

Production

The Enchanted Forest – A Divertimento was created under the artistic directorship of Bo Nilsson, museum director, together with Iselin Page, curator at Artipelag, and Adam Rosenkvist, independent art historian and curator.

Concert programme: Jacob Kellermann

Digital stage design: Samuel Lind

Sound, lighting and technical project management: Lumination

Publication and graphic profile: Waters Löwenhielm 

Educational activities: Amanda Andersson, head of learning, Artipelag