Nils Olsson
Programme Coordinator
Department of Literature, History of Ideas, andAbout Nils Olsson
At HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design I primarily teach theory of literature and creative writing through editorial and collective processes, with special focus on materialities of literature and experimental forms of distribution. I am also involved in the Artistic practice research school.
At the Dept. of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion, I teach critical theory, “editorial practice”, history of aesthetics as well as literary studies in general.
My PhD dissertation ”The Art of Putting text into work” (published in book form in 2013), investigates medial relationships between different art forms during modernism, with special focus on the writings of Gertrude Stein. Like most of my scholarly output, the book is in Swedish, but is presented here: https://www.glanta.org/bocker/tidigare-utgivning/?view=69
In 2022, I published the experimental book/essay ”e. on the editorial as artistic category”. Here I worked with artist, programmer and bookbinder Olle Essvik to produce a treatise on editorial art forms. As a physical book it involved collective work, chance, algorithmic writing, and alternative modes of distribution.https://www.rojal.se/#r [scroll down just a bit]https://www.instagram.com/p/CbIVtaAMYlo/
In 2020 I co-edited, and contributed to, the anthology “Writing with Light. On Literature and Photography”, in which I also further investigated affiliations between visual and literary arts, represented by the relationships between Gertrude Stein and modernist photographers: https://www.makadambok.se/produkt/att-skriva-med-ljus-13-essaer-om-litteratur-och-fotografi/
I have published extensively as an essayist and art/literature critic, over the last decades, primarily in Swedish. I have also worked as an editor for several independent publishers and culture journals over the years – most notably Glänta one of the most prominent journals in Sweden, and with which I am still affiliated (I was also the founder of its book publishing branch) – https://www.glanta.org/. Recent years, I have worked in close affinity with the publishing platform OEI on several projects – https://oei.nu/w/3.html.