Nisse Bergman

Smileys is a kind of "catopter", a device that forms images using reflected light and mirrors, made on commission for the science center Tom Tits Experiment in Södertälje, Sweden. It consists of two grids each consisting of 3025 polished stainless steel mirrors in a room painted in two different colors. Depending on from where in the room you look at them you'll see one of four different images.

It has no moving parts and works by each mirror being individually oriented to reflect either one or the other color depending on where the spectator is. When the spectator changes position the spot being reflected also changes position accordingly. Since each mirror has a different orientation it can display its own sequence of colors: either red to red, red to yellow, yellow to red, or yellow to yellow.

It's made by first calculating the angle of each mirror with a custom written software. The software then outputs a file with a flat pattern of the mirror that can then be laser cut and bent into a cube with the angle built into the front face. The mirrors are than hooked into position on a laser cut steel plate that is attached to the wall.

Buss 501 is an ambulating culture space where the spectators are all performers and the performers are all spectators. Each person on the bus takes turns contributing and spectating. This year we started in Stockholm and travelled via Surahammar, Virsbo, Fagersta, Norberg, Hedemora, Säter, Smedjebacken, Söderbärke and then back to Norberg again.

This year Bus 501 was curated and organized by Nisse Bergman and Jens Masimov.

Attending artists: Alba Lindblad, Alexander Bäckman, Anders Nilsson, Andy Allen, Birt Berglund, Björn Rudberg, Cara Tolmie, Caroline Nord, Christoffer Jansson, Dan Jensen, Danae Valenza, Daniel Eriksson, Daniel Iinatti, David Torstensson, Einar Zotterman, Eli Eli, Ellen Rosdala, Ellen Söderhult, Erik Wisell, Evelina Nolin, Felix Ahlberg Eriksson, Heidi Edström, Hållams Linnea Henriksson, Ingrid Gustafsson, Jakob Hördegård, Jens Masimov, Jon Ashbourne, Jonas Callander, Jonas Jordell, Jonas-Petter Wallner, Josse Thuresson, Judit Weegar, Julia Steinbach, Jussi Jailheart, Karin Keisu, Karl-Linus Börjesson, Karl-Oskar Gustafsson, Katrin Tryggvadottir, Linnea Hansander, Madelene Hertz, Mikal Styrke, Nicklas Hållen, Niklas Delin, Nisse Bergman, Otto Svensson, Oulia Makkonen, PA Sandberg, Sandra Wisell, Sarali Borg, Sofia Hökvind, Stella Dieden Richter, Torbjörn Rolandsson, Tova Fransson, Tova Tilliander and Yasmine Alishenas.

All photographs by Karl-Oskar Gustafsson.

Buss 501 2025 had financial support from by Region Dalarna, Leader Bergslagen and The European Union.

Blaise II is the second incarnation of an interactive sand organ. It consists of a box filled with micro glass beads and electronically controlled air valves fitted inside it. When the air valves open it shoots up the glass beads. It is controlled with custom electronics and custom written software and can be played either in real time with a MIDI keyboard or played back from a MIDI-file. It is one part of an ongoing project to make an entire orchestra.
The valve sequence shown in the video is composed by Birt Berglund.

Buss 501 is an ambulating culture space where the spectators are all performers and the performers are all spectators. Each person on the bus takes turns contributing and spectating. This year we started in Avesta and travelled to Norberg and Fagersta.

This year Bus 501 was curated and organized by Nisse Bergman and Jon Ashbourne.

Attending artists: Alva Roselius, Antto Eloranta, Birt Berglund, Cara Tolmie, Cilia Wagén, Danai Lytra, Ellen Pålsson, Ellen Rosdala, Evelina Nolin, Evelina Rönnung, Felix Alberg Eriksson, Heidi Edström, Jens Masimov, John Shmandersson, Jon Ashbourne, Jonas Jordell, Jonas-Petter Wallner, Jussi Jailheart, Karl-Oskar Gustafsson, Lisa Morrissey, Mark Frygell, Mika Kastner Johnson, Mika O Winborgh, Mikaela Backman, Nicklas Persson, Nisse Bergman, Sandra Wisell, Sarali Borg, Sophie Murray, Stella Dieden Richter and Tova Tilliander

All photographs by Ida Lindgren.

Buss 501 2024 had financial support from Konstfrämjandet Västmanland.

Sometimes I'm alone is a line of maritime signal flags spelling out the words "sometimes I'm alone, sometimes I'm not, Hello" as taken from the online video from 2022. It is made to sit on Cementas cement shipping ship Östanvik but was unfortunately called off at the last minute. Here it is displayed in Köpings Museum, Köping.

The creation of these albedo textures involves the use of photogrammetry, a technique that allows for the precise digital reconstruction of a face from a series of photographs. This process begins by capturing multiple high-resolution images of the subject's face from various angles under controlled lighting conditions. These images are then processed using specialized software to generate a 3D model, where the geometric details of the face are extracted. Once the 3D model is created, the albedo texture is derived by removing all light information from the images—essentially neutralizing any shadows, reflections, or highlights.

Blaise consists of 15 computer controlled air valves that blow air into a fine glass bead sand. The software running on the microcontroller embedded in the box can play realtime from a connected keyboard or prerecorded from a file.
The valve sequence shown in the video is composed by Birt Berglund.

Buss 501 is an ambulating culture space where the spectators are all performers and the performers are all spectators. Each person on the bus takes turns contributing and spectating. This year we started in Avesta and travelled to Norberg and Fagersta.

This year Bus 501 was curated and organized by Nisse Bergman, Jon Ashbourne and Mikaela Backman.

Attending artists: Alexander Bäckman, Alva Roselius, Antto Eloranta, Birt Berglund, Björn Rudberg, Cara Tolmie, Daniel Eriksson, Elsa Schiöle, Evelina Nolin, Fredrik Andersson, Frida Ashbourne, JP Wallner, Jens Masimov, Jesper Thor, Jon Ashbourne, Judit Weegar, Kondrad Lidén, Lisa Morresey, Marika Lyman, Mikaela Backman, Mikal Styrke, Nicklas Hållen, Nisse Bergman, Olle Bergman, Oulia Makkonen, Petter Broman, Sofia Hökvind, Sophie Murray, Tova Tilliander, Tove Dreiman, Victoria Tyboni and Viktor Örberg.

All photographs by Ida Lindgren.

Buss 501 2023 had financial support from Konstfrämjandet Västmanland.

Red Stipple consists of 12.466 mirrors and 182 red dots. When spectated from the ideal vantage point (one and a half meters from the window) all of the mirrors simultaneously reflect the red dots. When moving away from the viewing point, the mirror reflections gradually miss the red dots creating an optical illusion of a large red dot that moves in the opposite direction of the spectator.

In the documentation below Red Stipple is installed at kl.09.00 in the Östermalmstorg subway station in Stockholm and at Köpings Museum in Köping.

Sections are a continuation of Science and Unshielded Twisted Pairs using the same elements as Science is built out of.

"An anti-pattern is a common response to a recurring problem that is usually ineffective and risks being highly counterproductive". These works mainly consist of glass mirrors mounted on a board. The mirrors are each fixed at an individual angle so that they, viewed from a pre-calculated position, reflect one of the colours of the colour fields painted on objects in the space. All together the mirrors form a mosaic displaying an image. Moving away from the imagined vantage point the images quickly dissolve and disappear. There are no moving parts or digital tricks, only optics.

When milling, turning or grinding metal a smooth surface finish is usually desirable. A mirror-like finish is not only good for corrosion resistance and to hold the specified tolerances but since it is harder to make it also serves an aesthetic convention to show off your skills as a machinist. One quick and surprisingly accurate way to gauge the quality of a surface is to simply run your finger over it to feel for any burrs, bumps or nicks.

This video contains a compilation of clips found on YouTube of people touching machined surfaces with their hands featuring Tom Lipton (oxtoolco), John Saunders (NYC CNC), Quinn Dunki (Blondihacks), Adam Booth (Abom79), Tony (This Old Tony), Peter Bacco (Edge Precision), Stefan Gotteswinter, Steve Barton (Solid Rock Machine Shop), Dudley Toolwright, Igor Negoda (Игорь Негода), Robin Renzetti (Robrenz) and Keith Rucker (Vintage Machinery).

This is an ongoing work and I continue to collect video clips of machinists on YouTube touching machined surfaces with their hands.

The experiments I undertook whilst making Unshielded Twisted Pairs were further developed into works Science and Con/Ack. These sculptures use over ten kilometers of cable and instead of perspex I used stainless steel plates. I increased the size in order to make them larger than human scale and take them beyond being read as bodies, as had been the reaction to many of the previous sculptures. In increasing the scale and installing these sculptures in a smaller room these works became their own architecture generating a different set of implications. I also spent time researching how to pack the cables more tightly mathematically, and made bespoke tools resulting in much more satisfying cable dressings.

Flat, Square and Parallel is a term used in precision metal machining and refers to the three main properties of a machined block. The sculpture consists of a 140 cm tall aluminium block with a pump hidden inside. The pump elevates high viscosity mineral oil inside the sculpture that trickles down an internal system of funnels and exits through drilled holes.

The Eurion Constellation is the name of a pattern of five yellow or green rings found on banknotes to prevent counterfeiting. It's present on almost all banknotes of the world, for example the Hungarian forint, the Norwegian krone, the South African rand, the South Korean won, the Swiss Franc, the Ugandan shilling, the Chilean peso and the British pound.

If the pattern appears in an image most photocopiers and printers will refuse to print it and image editing software such as Photoshop will not open the image. The pattern is forbidden to be copied while also being probably the most replicated pattern in the world.

This sculpture is made out of brass rings pressed into a steel plate and then ground flat and polished to a mirror finish.

The stone has an inscription in Koine Greek that roughly translated into English becomes "I am a stone, an image. Nisse placed me here as a long-lasting sign of deathless remembrance."

The text is taken from the first section (called the Indication) of the Seikilos Epitaph. The Seikilos Epitaph is a tombstone, or stele, that holds the oldest known song complete with both lyrics and melody. It was probably made in 1st or 2nd century AD in the Hellenistic town of Trelles near present day Aydın, Turkey and was rediscovered in the late 1800s. It is now held by the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen to where I went to view it in the summer of 2018. Having studied Coptic - an Egyptian dialect of Greek, contemporary with the Seikilos Epitaph - I had a pre-existing knowledge that helped me make my own translation and better relate to the original text beyond the standard translation.

I have made a new version of the Seikilos Epitaph, containing the indication but with name replaced, on a slab of stone I chose from an abandoned iron ore mine near where I grew up. I have used the same swallow-tailed serifs, ligatures between the letters N, M and H and the peculiar form of the letter Omega that is used to date the original.

The stone is installed in the lawn outside of Konstfack.

UPDATE:In the late autumn of 2021 The Epitaph was thrown away as the lawn it was installed was converted into parking lots.

UPDATE:In the spring of 2022 the Epitaph reappeared. Apparently the construction workers that built the parking lot put the stone aside and later reinstalled it close to its initial position.

Mirror Portrait was the first mirror images I made back in 2019. It is made out of 3072 individual mirrors. The idea was that whoever stood in front of the portrait would give the colors to the image but a slight miscalculation of the mirror angles made it not really work as expected.

Framed by aluminium and hung from the ceiling in steel wires, ninety-six ready-made fans are mounted on a laser cut Perspex board. Periodically the fans switch on and off, making the frame sway as they do.

Coincidentally, the fans rotate at roughly the same speed as a honey bee flaps its wings, making them hum at a similar frequency. This gives the sculpture a subtle reference to the shared intelligence and collective consciousness of both a beehive and the Internet, the so called "hive mind".

I stumbled upon an Internet forum where data center technicians publish images of their most satisfying "cable dressings" (the technical term for arranging cables). Masses of perfectly arranged cables protruding from server racks tied down with zip ties. Referring to the satisfaction of the neatness on such a large scale they call it Cable Porn. Data centers usually have a no-photo policy so images of this phenomena are not wide spread. In addition to this all the pictures are very sparsely commented, reinforcing the niche aspect of this subculture.

Unshielded Twisted Pairs is a series of fourteen experimental sculptures that attempts to recreate the feeling of these images. The name Unshielded Twisted Pairs refers to the eight wires packed inside of the network cables, twisted in pairs to mitigate signal noise.

The titles of the sculptures are HTTP status codes used to communicate errors while loading web pages (e.g. the most famous status code being "404 File not found").

International Code of Signals (ICS) is an international system of signals and codes used by vessels to communicate important messages. According to the ICS the purpose of the International Code of Signals "is to provide ways and means of communication in situations related essentially to safety of navigation and persons, especially when language difficulties arise".
Signals can be sent by flaghoist where each flag or pennant represents one character or digit. Combinations of these alphanumeric characters are assigned as codes for various standardized messages that was deemed the most important to be communicated in 1969 when the code book was most recently revised.
I have selected some of those messages and compiled them into a poem hoisted on a small sailing boat. The decoded English equivalent can be seen below.

I will keep going ahead
I am increasing speed.
I am unable to answer your question.
What course should I steer?

No information available
I am on fire.
The breathing is weak.
Temperature is rising.
Throat is sore and red.

Fire is gaining.
You should not come any closer.
I do not see any light.
Your signal has been received but not understood.
You should stop sending.

Onset was sudden.
Nothing can be done until daylight.
I will keep close to you during the night

My cargo is coal.
All persons lost.
No change.

This project was realized with the help of Niklas Gawell and Olle Bergman.

Constructed to look like an old weather station the Screaming Tower is meant to blend in and not to be seen. It is installed in the middle of a clear-felled area.
The Screaming Tower has its own cell phone number that anyone can text to. When it receives a text it translates it into a primal scream that is broadcasted by speakers on its inside. The messages are not stored anywhere so it is impossible to know what has been screamed.

This project was made together with Jon Ashbourne.

This is the culmination of a multi year project where I tried to create an algorithm for rasterizing images using only sinusoidal waves. To not have to draw the waves by hand I tried, and failed, to build two drawing machines until buying and restoring a 80's era commercial plotter that I mounted a ballpoint pen in. Later I realized that someone else already had independently come up with the same algorithm.