Abecita Popkonst & Foto i Borås - missa inte!

Abecita Popkonst & Foto is an exciting art museum that you won't want to miss if you're passing through Borås. Actually, you don't have to pass by - it's definitely worth taking a detour to experience this personal and fascinating museum.

Table of contents

Abecita Pop Art & Photography

Abecita Popkonst & Foto showcases high quality photography and art exhibitions. Each year, a number of well-known photographers are featured in exhibitions and lectures, known as photo evenings. The museum also has a large collection of works by prominent artists such as Warhol, Rauschenberg, Bourgeois, Hockney, Hamilton, Borofsky and Katz.

We're sure that art connoisseurs love this place, but it's also a place for people like us, i.e. ordinary art ignorant people. We can sometimes think that some art museums are a bit boring, but this was something else. completely other. The artworks spoke to us and we stayed for a long time at one exhibition after another.

Abecita Popkonst & Foto is located in Knalleland in Borås, not far from Borås Zoo.

The birth of an art museum - an unusual story

It was never intended to be a museum in the first place. Bengt and Berit Swegmark, who lived in Borås, began collecting international art in their home in the 1970s. The collection grew and over time it became inevitable - this had to become a museum!

But how do you get funding for a museum, and where do you find premises? Bengt and Berit are passionate people who have dedicated themselves to art. They made sure to find financiers for their project, and they found premises through Bengt's other profession at the time - the Abecita corset factory.

Abecita Pop Art & Photo - a personal art museum

Abecita Popkonst & Foto is not like other art museums. This is a personal museum created and developed entirely by Bengt and Berit. The fact that they have been, and are, involved in everything means that you can clearly feel a common thread through everything presented.

We had a short guided tour by Bengt and a longer chat with both of them. What a wonderfully warm, lovely and committed couple! You can so clearly feel their commitment to art and the museum, but also to Borås as a city. We realised that the couple has been a driving force when it comes to the city's art and culture, including being a leader in bringing the large Pinocchio statue to the city.

Constantly new exhibitions

The museum hosts a number of exhibitions at the same time, and these change a few times a year, so there's always something new to see. Here are a few words about some of the exhibitions we looked at:

Borås - City of all times (27 May - 23 January 2021) is an exhibition where Borås Tidning presents the history of modern Borås through the newspaper's press photos. This exhibition is perhaps extra exciting for Borås residents but we, who have no relation to Borås, also got stuck here for quite some time.

For example, we found photos from a legendary concert in Borås in 1963, featuring Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and John Lennon. The guys apparently didn't manage to impress the Borås newspaper back then, but they did well afterwards anyway... And do you recognise the guy with the glasses in the picture below? It's a very young Christer Björkman!

Some photos also showed the construction and unveiling of some of the city's artworks. Here it was as if the circle of Borås as an art city was closed - here we could stand and look at art about art!

Peggy Anderson - The Morning Dip (27 May - 10 October 2021) is an exhibition that highlights the ritual of the morning swim in Torekov, when people walk to the pier early in the morning wearing a bathrobe. We recently visited Torekov and reacted to all the people in bathrobes - even those who came by bike - and so this exhibition spoke to us particularly strongly. You can stand for a long time with each picture and think about the people in the pictures and their lives.

Meetings - from the collections (27 May - 10 October 2021) presents photographic portraits from the museum's collection of artists. Here you can see photos focusing on the social encounter.

Clas Hillén (25 February - 10 October 2021) is a photographer who works with street photography. This exhibition was really cool and we got stuck here for a while.

Perhaps our absolute favourite of the entire museum was the photo of the elderly man and woman in front of the red car. What a deliciously captured moment!

Prize for textile artists

Abecita Popkonst & Foto, through the Fokus Borås Foundation, regularly awards a prize to Nordic textile artists - the Nordic Award in Textiles. The prize money is SEK 150,000 and the aim is to promote the development of textile art.

Each artist awarded the prize is given the opportunity to exhibit at the museum, after which a work of art is left as a memento of the exhibition. In 2009, the prize was awarded to Silja Puranen from Finland, and one of her works now hangs in the museum (below).

In 2011, the prize was awarded to Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardottir, and her remaining fiery red works can also be seen at the museum.

Thank you to Abecita Pop Art & Photo

We want to thank you for an exciting and interesting visit, which contributed greatly to our sense of Borås as a city of art. It's great to see that committed people can mean so much for a city's identity. We vote for the next statue in the city to be an artistically cool statue of the Swegmark couple!

More to experience in the art city of Borås

It's definitely worth making a detour to Borås just to see Abecita Popkonst & Foto, but while you're here you can also take the opportunity to see the city's public art. For example, you can check out the 9 metre high statue Walking to Borås (the Pinocchio sculpture), but there are many other works of art as well.

Borås is also known for its murals, many of which were created during the No Limit street art festival. You can take a map to find them in order, or just wander around at random.

There are also several art and design museums, which help put Borås on the map as an art city. You can check out the Borås Art Museum and the Textile Museum, both of which are interesting.

READ MORE: Things to do in Borås - 15 tips for the city of art and textiles

Konstmuseet i Borås — Borås Art Museum 2021

Where can you park a motorhome?

To visit Abecita Popkonst & Foto during the day, you can find parking spaces just outside the museum, or at Borås Djurpark (600 metres away). If you want to stay overnight, there is a parking space in the Astern car park, not far from Stadsparksbadet.

The location is excellent for visiting the city and the price is quite ok (150 SEK including electricity). Otherwise, it is a slightly tricky place that slopes quite well, where you do not really understand how to stand, and where the traffic is close. There is no toilet, but ordinary small rubbish bins are available.

Have you visited Abecita Popkonst & Foto in Borås? Do you like art museums and art experiences?

göra i Västergötland — All our top tips for holidays in Västergötland

Landscape: Västergötland
County: Västra Götaland County
Municipality: Borås
Address: Herrljungagatan 15, Knalleland
Read more: You can find more information at the museum's website.

Tours and activities

Exhibitions and openings: New exhibitions are shown regularly and the newsletter provides information on openings, lecturers and more.
Guided tours: Tours for groups can be booked in advance, on exhibitions, the history of the museum and artists in the collections.
ConferenceConference can be organised in a creative environment on the fifth floor of the museum.

Services and practical information

Opening hours: The museum is currently open Tuesday-Friday 11-16 and Saturday-Sunday 11-15 (Sep 2021). Please note that the museum is closed on certain public holidays and opening hours may change.
Prices: Adults 100 SEK (coffee included) and students 50 SEK (2021). Children under 15 have free admission in the company of their parents.
Café: Coffee and pastries are available in the museum's café.
Shop: The café has a small shop with photo books and posters.

Finding Abecita Pop Art & Photo

Car: Drive to Borås and follow signs for "Knalleland" and "Djurpark" all the way to the car parks. Then turn right on Herrljungagatan and continue for about 300 metres.
Municipal: From Gothenburg you can travel by bus 100 to Borås Resecentrum, where you change to bus 3 towards Knalleland. You can also take a train from Herrljunga and get off at Knalleland.

READ MORE: Things to do in Västergötland - sights and experiences
READ MORE: Holidays in Sweden - your guide to Sweden's best destinations

10 Comments

Add yours →

bmlarstravellingblog says:

What a lovely post from Abecita Popkonst &Foto. Isn't it incredible; this is a museum completely in our taste that we have been talking about visiting for years, we have 10 miles to go, but have we been there? Not!
However, we have visited Fotografiska in Stockholm 5 - 10 times....

14 September 2021 - 8:39

- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  So glad you liked the post! And hope you get the chance to plan a visit, really worth it! 🙂
  
  14 September 2021 - 17:46
  
Sofia (Longboardlady) says:

What a nice morning reading! 🙂 Almost so that you long for home! The next trip to Borås I will perhaps see if I have time for a trip to Abecita.

14 September 2021 - 9:35

- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  Yes, but you have to try to keep up with that! 🙂 More about Borås will come a little later this week by the way!
  
  14 September 2021 - 17:47
  
Monica says:

What fun you have been there and tell it so well. I was at the Nordic cancer meeting in Borås, I'm glad they put it there and not in Gothenburg. It was an incredibly busy day, but one man had been given the task of driving around the city and telling its history. How nice. And I was impressed by both the hospital and the staff, so professional. And skipped some dinner and checked out what was available, nice city and such nice people. Today you mostly hear about problems and violence even there so actually hesitated to go there. So interesting that you stayed there and made a nice report.

14 September 2021 - 15:28

- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  So fun that it is appreciated! 🙂 Interesting to hear about your visit to Borås! Guided tours are always interesting, and give another insight. More about Borås will come a little later this week!
  
  14 September 2021 - 17:48
  
Ditte says:

What fun! It has been a long time since I was in Borås, but if I come here again, I will definitely go to Abecita.
Borås is generally a city with a lot of culture and art of various kinds.
Thank you for this pleasant visit.

14 September 2021 - 16:58

- Comment by post author
  
  Helena says:
  
  Borås is certainly a city with a lot of art and culture! And just Abecita made the most impression on us! 🙂
  
  14 September 2021 - 17:49
  
BP says:

A museum entirely to my taste. Borås has a completely new approach, including promoting graffiti artists for at least ten years. The city is really a model for thinking "outside the box". It would be great if more Swedish cities would follow suit.

14 September 2021 - 19:54

Lena - good for the soul says:

Great place! You really manage to convey your enthusiasm for that museum. Fun with different destinations.

Hug Lena

22 November 2021 - 5:53

Abecita Popkonst & Foto in Borås - don't miss out!

Abecita Pop Art & Photography

The birth of an art museum - an unusual story

Abecita Pop Art & Photo - a personal art museum

Constantly new exhibitions

Prize for textile artists

Thank you to Abecita Pop Art & Photo

More to experience in the art city of Borås

Where can you park a motorhome?

Facts about Abecita Pop Art & Photography

Tours and activities

Services and practical information

Finding Abecita Pop Art & Photo

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10 Comments

bmlarstravellingblog says:

Helena says:

Sofia (Longboardlady) says:

Helena says:

Monica says:

Helena says:

Ditte says:

Helena says:

BP says:

Lena - good for the soul says:

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