Carl Johan Högberg
Since 2009, Carl Johan Högberg has been researching the clairvoyant Catherine-Elise Müller (1861-1929). She was an employee of commerce by profession and a medium by vocation. Better known by her moniker Hélène Smith, she enthralled her audiences in Geneva with candlelit spiritual performances at the turn of the last century.
Through painting and weaving, Carl Johan asks: is it possible to speak with someone and on behalf of another through a kinship felt across history? This question has taken him, as a resident artist, to the International Artists Studio Program in Stockholm (IASPIS); Künstlerhaus Bethanien; Hordaland Kunstsenter; La Cité internationale des arts; and Grazer Kunstverein.
Carl Johan’s work has been exhibited at Palais de Tokyo, Grazer Kunstverein, Salzburger Kunstverein, Tallinna Kunstihoone and Bonniers konsthall. He has been awarded the De Koninklijke Prijs voor Vrije Schilderkunst (Royal Award for Modern Painting), and has received several grants from Mondriaan Fonds, Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst and Konstnärsnämnden. Recently, he contributed an essay on spirit rapping to the book Listening: A Research Method in Art & Design, edited by Alice Twemlow and published by KABK (2024).
Carl Johan studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and De Ateliers in Amsterdam.
Along with Antoinette Vonder Mühll, he heads the BA Fine Arts at KABK, where he also teaches critical theory and writing.
