From 29 March to 19 October 2025, the Röhsska Museum in Gothenburg will host Sharp Feelers – Soft Antennas, the first solo exhibition in Sweden by the artist duo Wang & Söderström. The show brings together 3D-printed sculptures, films and interactive installations that invite visitors to explore the possibilities of the senses in the digital age.
Anny Wang and Tim Söderström have long worked at the intersection of art, design and digital experimentation. With Sharp Feelers – Soft Antennas, they reflect on how the increasing digitalisation of reality shapes human sensory perception, and on the potential of biological structures such as tentacles, antennae or filaments as models for new ways of relating to the digital environment.
“Through our senses, we build an understanding of ourselves, other forms of life and the world around us. We live in a time when the physical and digital have merged, where technology is not in conflict with either humanity or nature,” says Tim Söderström, emphasising how the exhibition questions what it means for the senses to exist in a world where the digital permeates every aspect of life.
Wang & Söderström’s work is defined by a visual language of soft forms, organic textures and pastel colors. While often described as playful, their practice centers on creating synthetic realities where physical materials and virtual environments intertwine.
In their installations, digital elements do not remain confined to screens but take shape as 3D-printed objects, textiles, animated surfaces or interactive structures. At the core of their work lie questions about how the digital realm is reshaping our relationship with materiality, ecology and sensory perception.
Reflecting on the exhibition, Anny Wang remarks: “How can new technologies expand our narrow view of perception? If it’s through the senses that we understand the world, we need to find ways to refine them.”
Alongside existing works, Sharp Feelers – Soft Antennas features two new pieces commissioned by the museum and developed in dialogue with the Röhsska Museum’s seventeenth- and eighteenth-century collections. These historical collections highlight tactile sensibility, natural forms and early systems devised to describe and comprehend the natural world.
One of the new works is Känselspröt (translated as “Feelers”), a tapestry woven using the Jacquard loom technique, combining digitally generated visual patterns with the physicality of textile craft. The other is 5+sinnen (5+senses), a folding screen activated through augmented reality, offering a visual and interactive experience that merges material presence with digital content accessible via smartphone or tablet. Both works aim to bring the museum’s historical heritage into the present, forging connections between past modes of representation and contemporary technologies.
Among the installations on view is a reimagined version of The Liminal Eatery, an interactive work that invites visitors to participate in a tasting experience. Activated during specific moments in the public program, the piece involves food designer Josefin Vargö, who creates bites designed to simultaneously engage taste, touch, sight and smell.
The Liminal Eatery explores how food, often regarded as a purely physical experience, can also serve as a channel for reflecting on the boundaries between the real and the digital. Through unexpected textures, striking colors and unconventional forms, the installation suggests new ways of connecting the body to its surroundings.
According to Nina Due, director of the Röhsska Museum, Wang & Söderström’s research feels particularly relevant today because it links the history of design with the challenges posed by contemporary digital technologies. “The exhibition offers visitors a multisensory and digital experience in which the museum’s historical collections are reinterpreted through new works,” she explains.
Exhibition title: Sharp Feelers – Soft Antennas
Venue: Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden
Dates: 29 March – 19 October 2025
Curators: Wang & Söderström, in collaboration with the Röhsska Museum
Website: rohsska.se
