15 December 2022

Liljevalchs’ new scenographic exhibition ‘ABC – Ö’ inspires children to embrace letters

On Friday, December 9, a new exhibition opened at Liljevalch’s art gallery in Stockholm. The scenographic exhibition is called ‘ABC – Ö’ and wants to inspire children to learn letters using 13 different ABC books by authors and illustrators such as Gunilla Bergström (Alfie Atkins) Stig Lindberg, Stina Wirsén, and Tove Jansson.

The books featured in the exhibition date back from over a hundred years ago, the oldest is The Princesses’ Flower Alphabet Ottilia Adelborg (1892) and the latest Mumindalens alfabet by Tove Jansson/Annika Sandelin, published in 2021.

Close to 50 enlarged pages from the 13 alphabet books are designed to move like leaves in the room.

Children’s author and poet Annika Sandelin has written a poem for each letter. The poems, written as rhymes, invite us on a language journey where the reader gets to twist, turn and experience how the letters in our alphabets can be used. This modern classic is perfect for reading aloud together. The book was released in Finland by Förlaget M and published in Sweden by Bonnier Carlsen.

ABC – Ö is a collaboration between Läsrörelsen and Liljevalchs, with the support of the Postcode Foundation, Moomin Characters, Rights & Brands, Bonnier Publishers, ABA Arkitektkopia, Nyckelviksskolan and Taxi Stockholm. As a New Year’s gift, Taxi Stockholm will offer 15 00 00 rides to and from preschools in socio-economically vulnerable areas to the exhibition on January 2-4 and January 9-13.

The books featured in the exhibit are:

The Princesses’ Flower Alphabet by Ottilia Adelborg (1892)
The ABC Journey by Elsa Beskow (1945)
ABC by Stig Lindberg/Britt G. Hallqvist (1951)
ABC by Poul Ströyer/Lennart Hellsing (1961)
Majas Alfabet by Lena Anderson (1984)
ABCD-boken by Mati Lepp (1997)
ABC-boken by Jan Lööf (1999)
ABC-bok by Owe Gustafson (2001)
Alfie’s ABC by Gunilla Bergström (2002)
Lilla ABC med Rut, Knut & Tjut by Stina Wirsén/Carin Wirsén (2003)
Från Apglad till Öronvax. En ABC-bok by Pernilla Stalfelt (2004)
Livets ABC by Lisen Adbåge (2020)
Mumindalens alfabet by Tove Jansson/Annika Sandelin (2021)