The Jury for Vårsalongen 2026 comprises the artist and musician Paul Adamah, the curator Abir Boukhari and the artist Carola Grahn. The Jury is chaired by the Director of Liljevalchs, Joanna Sandell Wright. Starting this year, all of Sápmi can apply.
– It’s important that the audience can discover art that is immediate, and reflects what contemporary artists are actually making in their studios today. This jury has a sensibility for the questions and influences of our present time. Paul Adamah, Abir Boukhari and Carola Grahn also have networks that most art institutions can only dream of, says Joanna Sandell Wright.
Paul Adamah is a multidisciplinary artist working with music (under the name Boko Yout), performance, design and visual arts. With roots in Örebro and a background from Togolese and Mozambican cultures, he works in the intersection between the personal and the political – often exploring themes such as identity, representation and expressions of queer and Black experiences. Paul Adamah is educated at Kungl. Konsthögskolan in Stockholm and will release his debut album GUSTO in September.
– I’m drawn to art that raises questions about the collective, the subconcious and the uncomfortable. Art that both takes up space and makes room, says Paul Adamah.
Abir Boukhari is a Syrian curator who lives and works in Sweden since 2015. With her rich and internationally grounded experience, she has distinguished herself as a sharp voice within the world of contemporary art. In 2005 she co-founded AllArtNow in Damascus, the first independent contemporary art center in Syria, and a center for the Arabic art scene. As a result of the Syrian civil war, in 2012 the space was transformed into a nomadic exhibition space ambulating through multiple places of the world. Since 2019, Abir Boukhari runs AllArtNow in Stockholm. In her work as a curator, she has in recent years focused on themes such as migration and identity.
– In my work, I am inspired by young and emerging artists who express their creativity with courage and imagination. At Vårsalongen, I hope to contribute with the other colleagues to an artistic sensibility that embraces risk, nurtures experimentation, and allows new artistic experiences to emerge and reflect the rich diversity and experiences within Sweden, säger Abir Boukhari.
Carola Grahn is a South Sami artist from Jokkmokk with a MFA from Kungl. Konsthögskolan in Stockholm. Her solo exhibition Drick Drick was held at Liljevalchs until August 12 . In her work, she critically examines human alienation from nature and the destructive legacy of colonialism, continuing to cause suffering both for humans and nature. She interweaves references from Western art history and popular culture with Sami tradition and the rural areas of Northern Sweden, often with a humouristic approach.
– I think that a really good Vårsalong should include a bit of everything! There should be strong emotions, melancholy and humour in possible and impossible techniques. I also hope that something will appear that we as jury members want to reject at first, but after debating it together will change our minds about and want to include, says Carola Grahn.
Vårsalongen is a yearly juried exhibition that anyone over 18, who lives or resides in Sweden, can apply to. This year, even all of Sápmi can apply.
– Opening up Vårsalongen to applicants from all of Sápmi and not just Sweden came as an initiativ from the jury member Carola Grahn, and I was immediately excited. I see Vårsalongen as a way of highlighting artistic networks and alliances. You could say that Vårsalongen is a curatorial method for finding the most interesting artists of our time, says Joanna Sandell Wright.
Since its start in 1921, Vårsalongen has grown into a major public event, where each participant has the unique chance of being viewed by an audience of around 100 000 people. The digital application for Vårsalongen opens September 1. Vårsalongen will be held at Liljevalchs from Mid-February until the end of April 2026.