J O R D A N S Ö D E R B E R G M I L L S

Jordan Söderberg Mills is a Canadian visual artist working in installation, sculpture, and design objects. His work explores ideas of identity, perception and the sublime, playing with the borders between physical and digital realities, and pushing the material possibilities of light. Through a research-based practice in optics and material science, he examines the nature of colour and transforms perception through works in glass, light and projection.

Jordan Söderberg Mills was born in Ancaster, Ontario, and studied at Trinity College at the University of Toronto followed by Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile. He apprenticed with Chilean artist and master blacksmith Francisco Gazitua and holds a Master's Degree from Central Saint Martins in London, UK. He has developed projects for the Victoria and Albert, Tate Britain, Art Gallery of Ontario and Design Museum Gent, and has collaborated with brands such as Adidas, Emaar Properties and BMW Mini Cooper. His first public art commission stands in Belgravia, London, UK, with a second upcoming public art project in Brussels, Belgium. He won Wallpaper* Magazine’s Best in Glass in 2018 and currently resides in Germany.

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Giant’s Gate was an ambitious project, one that pushed me as a dreamer and experimentalist outside of my comfort zone. It gave me the chance to work with the brilliant, deep thinker Christopher Bradley - @cmtbworks - and take a view to form and language that moved beyond just sensation and perception. It may not be built, but the process taught me that we can always try to punch above our weight, seek out like minded individuals to help and collaborate, and consciously try to learn as much as you can in the process. It also helps when you have a genius who can do your renders and make your ideas look good: @_patrickdrescher

The geography of the site has an intrinsic sense of pushing and pulling, drift and emergence, with a long form of convection that pulls material from deep in the earths mantle to skin the planet anew. We set out to create a structure that honoured this process - something that was at once a gateway, a tunnel and a lookout - a kind of architectural folly that captured the sense of motion in the surrounding landscape, highlighted its mutable and changing nature. How could we create a gateway to the centre of the earth? Architect: @cmtbworks Render 2/3 by @_patrickdrescher

This is an architectural-scale project in Iceland that I developed with the amazing @cmtbworks which unfortunately wasn’t selected to be built, but wanted to share nonetheless. The project would have sat at a geological breach, a cleft in the earth where the continental plates drift slowly, and inexorably apart. Image 3/3 by @_patrickdrescher

Some context shots of the #Kleyeyck exhibition at @designmuseumgent as the show is closing soon. It has been such an honour to exhibit my work alongside some of my heroes in art and design. @sabine_marcelis @fernandolaposse @sophie.rowley @anish.kapoor @studiothusthat @hellajongerius Curator @siegriddemyttenaere (also the model featured in my mirror) took inspiration from the late Renaissance painter Jan van Eyck to build a collection of objects that were referential and interpretive without being literal. A walk through the exhibition creates a narrative of form, colour and texture that just sings. The show will soon move on to @letripostal in Lille, France for @lille3000 where I’ll be showing a brand new water-based work called Deep Circle. The show (hopefully) opens with Covid safety measures in place on April 8th. #exhibitiondesign #kleureyck #designmuseum #installationart #lightandspace #light #siegriddemyttenaere #glass #contemporaryart #designart

I love this pic of @zoe.steijaert and their dad wandering in the background. It’s a huge privilege to be able to see my work through the eyes of others - one of the benefits of making mirrors is that I stumble upon beautiful pictures that people take (that don’t feature my glazed ham of a face.) I try to make artworks that are invitations, where the viewer participates in the outcome of the work, and gets to create something with it. Things that shift and change depending on circumstances and who’s looking. Just a few weeks left to see this and the amazing collection of art and design at @designmuseumgent curated by @siegriddemyttenaere with scenography by @bramvanderbeke #mirror #kleureyck #jordansoderbergmills #contemporaryglass #contemporarysculpture #installationart #lightinstallation #visualfiction

This is maybe one of my favourite pics of the #kleureyck exhibition at @designmuseumgent - I still feel like the kid on the left when I make these things. Just a few more weeks left to see the show before it moves to Lille, France for @lille3000 Huge thank you to @evelinesabbe for sharing this pic. #light #installation #Installationart #contemporaryart #contemporarysculpture #lightandspace #kleureyck #kleureyckdesignmuseumgent

We have lots of priorities right now but I’d love to see retailers, store owners and developers open these display spaces to artists: give some life back to cities, invite conversations, and make our walks a little more interesting. @simonpropertygroup @cadillac_fairview @westfield_holdings_ @macerichbrandexperiences

I was thinking about a lot of different things when I made this. The artwork was getting built into a store window, so I thought a lot about the setting. Shop displays are like little vignettes that play on our material desires, giving us possible worlds and versions of ourselves that own these things. How, then, can I use this space to display something immaterial, a “thing” that you can’t even touch?

Thinking back on some recent projects, this one was in Graz, Austria. I got to work with the curator @birgit_lill who taught me a few important lessons: 1. That art can be very serious, or it can be a show. Try to bring people curiosity, experience, and joy if you can. 2. That no matter if things get effed up, resolving them with calmness and humour always helps. 3. Unclarified wines do not give you a hangover. 4. If I were a male exotic dancer, my name would be “Misty Rainbows.” Pic by the amazing @simon_oh

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