2G Essays: Sigurd Lewerentz and Bernt Nyberg. In Dialogue
Book Release – June 18, 5–7 PM at the former Riksförsäkringsanstalten in Stockholm (Adolf Fredriks kyrkogata 8). Sven Blume, Matthew Hall, and Nathan Matteson will attend on stage to present the book, the discussion will be moderated by Karin Björkqvist and Sébastien Corbar.
The book will be available for sale worldwide by the end of May 2025.
This publication takes a contemporary look at Bernt Nyberg ́s biography project on Sigurd Lewerentz, which shows the great Swedish architect from a new perspective in film, still images and sound recordings. The prevailing image of Sigurd Lewerentz is that of the silent architect : opaque, reclusive, and reluctant to reveal the motivations behind his work. Through still images, film and hours of recorded interviews, the architect Bernt Nyberg presents us with a differ- ent view – that of an architect on site, captured in a dialogue among the workers, the materials and the contingencies of a design as it unfolds in space and time. Through the curious and experimental lens of a younger contemporary – an architect obsessed with film, and operating at the cutting edge of its technol- ogy – Lewerentz ́s discourse is shown to be one of praxis rather than theory, intensely interested in the consequences of construction. Nyberg was Lewer- entz ́s first biographer, and he was aiming to make
a documentary film and book. However, these plans were cut short by Nyberg ́s untimely death in 1978. The book initiates a contemporary dialogue with these images, suggesting new lenses for interpretation and discussion.
