Anders Edström and Ann-Sofie Back Will Show 20 Years of Collaborative Work in One Tiny Kiosk in Stockholm

Anders Edström and Ann-Sofie Back Will Show 20 Years of Collaborative Work in One Tiny Kiosk in Stockholm

<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
“The world’s smallest photo exhibition featuring the work of Anders Edström and Ann-Sofie Back.”

Modebyrån

“The world’s smallest photo exhibition featuring the work of Anders Edström and Ann-Sofie Back.”
Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists
<h1 class="title">Modebyrån</h1><cite class="credit">Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists</cite>

Modebyrån

Photo: Anders Edström; styling, Ann-Sofie Back / Courtesy of the artists

This Sunday in Stockholm, Ann-Sofie Back and Anders Edström will transform a news kiosk outside of the Grand Hotel (where many of the Fall 2018 fashion shows will be held) into a gallery space for “the world’s smallest photo exhibition,” titled “Modebyrån” (Fashion Bureau). She’s a designer and sometimes stylist and he’s a photographer, and together with the help of Re-Edition magazine (which will continue its collaboration with these Swedes in its next issue) and Pressbyrån, the national chain that owns the convenience shop, they’ll showcase 20 years of their work for independent publications like Purple and Self Service.

Neither Back nor Edström is interested in the pretty or the perfect; both have changed how we look at fashion. Stylist Camille Bidault-Waddington, who met Edström when they were both working for Martin Margiela in the ’90s, describes the photographer’s work as being “like a mental film.” His photos, she says, “feel quiet and beautiful, but you sense that there is something hidden in them and that the more you try to catch what it is, the further you get from them.” For Back, styling is a liberating experience. “With [designing] a collection, there is so much more at stake for me,” she says. “It is total freedom when I do styling; I don’t give a flying fuck what anyone would think about it. It’s not the end of the world if it doesn’t turn out right.” The show’s unexpected setting, which Edström describes as “small and messy,” seems well-suited to the offbeat approach the two friends have toward fashion. Here, Back and Edström talk to Vogue about their first meeting, in 1998, and describe how they work together.

  • MEETING

Anders Edström: Self Service magazine thought I should meet Ann-Sofie because they wanted us to collaborate on a series for them, so we met. It was in 1998. I called her a few days later. I asked her to make some clothes to photograph. She accepted, and two weeks later she was done, so we photographed her in them. She was quite tense and so was I, but when we edited together we laughed a lot, so we became friends.

Ann-Sofie Back: After finishing my MA at [Central] Saint Martins in London, I went to Paris for a couple of weeks, doing interviews, trying to find a designer position. Purple and Self Service magazine were relatively new then, so I managed to get appointments to show them my portfolio. Suzanne Koller [Self Service cofounder] told me to get in contact with Anders, who then lived in London—possibly just to get rid of me. Later, I met with Anders and it was incredibly awkward and stiff; I am not a very comfortable person and was even less so back then. Having a conversation with Anders is like the world championship in uncomfortable silences. Anyhow, obviously we hit it off; we had the awkwardness, embarrassment, and a fascination for the mundane in common. It is like we cherish this, using our shame, it is a very valuable feeling.

  • METHODOLOGY

Edström: We usually meet and drink wine and talk. We usually come up with some random keywords like “dry leaves” or “Coca-Cola” or “profiles.” It can be anything. We decide how many models we want, usually, they are street cast, and where we want to do the shoot. It’s just a starting point. We make each other laugh a lot. I often thought that’s the main reason for doing it. The result is always totally different from the original idea. When it’s not, we’ve failed.

Back: I think I’m trying to pull down the clothes I’m using to a level where they become equal with me. When I’m finished with them, I have degraded the clothes by treating them as worthless. I also try to surprise myself: What can be considered fashion or beauty? This aesthetic is now widely accepted within the fashion business but wasn’t back then at all. We had so much fun, editing the photos after a shoot, laughing our heads off with how banal and bad our work was. Huge credit to Katy England who never bat an eyelid when we handed over the stories to her. We used to think, like, “This time she will tell us to fuck off. Surely they can’t print this shit?” But she did. I would really like to know what went through her head.

  • PLUS ÇA CHANGE?

Edström: I don’t think [our work together] has changed at all. Maybe on the surface, but it comes from the same place.

Back: I think I am “better” at casting; that’s good and bad. I miss the surprise element, the pang of fear when it’s not working out and you know things will turn out truly bad. It is weird talking about becoming better at something when the goal is to be bad. I’m better at being crap today. I still want to feel uncertain in the process; being ashamed and so on is still there and important. These last years, I haven’t done so much styling apart from my own shoots and shows, and I turn down the volume on the above, trying not to be misunderstood as much.

See the videos.