Malmö artists debut the results of an extreme isolation this Friday at Galleri Pictura. We talked to the artists to get the cryptic details.
Hidden Playground, an exhibition by Malmö-based artists António Corceiro-Leal and Jesper Veileby, opens this Friday in the newly reopened Galleri Pictura, curated by Sofia Landström.
The exhibition is an exploration of a heterotopia, a space mapped out by the artists during an intensive five-day period of self-imposed isolation; the resulting work is a collection of texts, images and artifacts, constructing a language to tell a story through a mode of magical thinking.
In the words of the artists, “Both [artistic and magical thinking] look for connections and relations between method and outcome that doesn’t always comply with a “rational” and/or “logical” practice. They are both systems of language, and although not the same, one is understood by the other.”
Despite its conceptual nature, Hidden Playground comes across as concerned with the real world, grounded in an exploration of the notion of reality and how far its possibilities extend.
“What takes place in Hidden Playground is both playful and deadly serious, like any kid’s game,” the artists elaborated in an interview.
“And the process of this game is obscure not only to a potential on-looker but also to the participant himself.”
The concept of the heterotopia is derived from Foucault, “a space simultaneously physical and mental.” 
Corciero-Leal and Veileby describe part of the creative process that produced Hidden Playground as a performance without an audience, rendering the exhibition in the Galleri Pictura as post-performative of something entirely unseen.
The Galleri Pictura effectively provides a portal for students to enter the art world, and a space for young artists to show their work; according to Sofia Langström, “Pictura is a bridge from university to working life that is significant and important, both for artists and students.”
When Hidden Playground opens, students can explore for themselves the bounds of this game, and perhaps see the threads of magic woven into reality.
Hidden Playground will be open from January 20th to February 18th. It opens this Friday, 15:00-18:00.
