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Planetarium Through the Looking-Glass

In connection with the Plastic Extension of Music course at the Malmö Academy of Music, this piece is the plastic extension of Sten Dunér's Planetarium sketch owned by the Skissernas Museum in Lund, Sweden. From the 22-24 May 2026 the student's work were presented together with the original sketches at the museum showcasing their work to the public.  At the exhibition other sketches from the student were presented together with the final result, showcasing the process and different stages the work went through before its final stage.

Planetarium Through the Looking-Glass was made with dry clay and acrylic paint. Gloss varnish was also applied to seal the work. This work was created thinking about the Birgit Rausing Hall where it was exhibited in, pondering before hand about the mirrored ceiling:

Through its own reflection in the looking glass, a two dimensional drawing becomes a tangible living piece. Viewer's are invited to look upward and experience its reflection on the ceiling.

The primary goal behind the creation of this plastic extension was to transform the two-dimensional characteristics of the sketch into a tri-dimensional work portraying and enhancing somehow these characteristics through a different medium. It is interesting to note that this question was also raised by Sten Dunér himself when he wrote Måleriets rum, an article for the educational magazine Studiekamraten:

For some, colour is the most important aspect, while others emphasize rhythm, the representational content, or the emotional impact. But how many would mention the created pictorial space? (...) I believe that the concept of space is of truly fundamental importance: an image can be created without colours, it can be made static (without rhythm), it can be both without content in the traditional sense and lacking affect, but it cannot exist without pictorial space. Why? (...) Everyone knows what a space is. It is something you stay in and often pay high rents for. But the space of painting is something else. We must distinguish between real space and imaginary space. (Dunér, 1965, s. 183)

The final piece of the Planetarium sketches is called Monumental Serigraphy: a silkscreen three-colour lithography print afterwards laminated, designated Perstorpsplattor. It consists of fifty-five pieces in total, measuring altogether 1,55 x 8,37 meters, and it was installed at the psychiatric clinic at the hospital in Danderyd, Sweden, in 1972. Sten Dunér took inspiration from the Apollo 11 project for this project:

The image concept is a series of free speculations about space exploration. I have been thinking specifically about the Apollo 11 project. One of the frames depicts the Earth rising above the Moon, on which lie the astronauts' forgotten belongings (frame no. 1). Another frame shows the Moon's gravitational pull (ebb and flow) on the Earth's water (frame no. 16), and so on. All the images are intended to tell a richly varied story about a journey away from Earth. (Dunér, FÖLJEBREV TILL STEN DUNÉRS ANMÄLNINGSSEDEL, 1969)

Sources:
Dunér, S. (1965). Måleriets rum. Studiekamraten, 183-184.
Dunér, S. (1969). FÖLJEBREV TILL STEN DUNÉRS ANMÄLNINGSSEDEL. Sverige.

Plastic Extension of Music – A Student Project in Collaboration with the Malmö Academy of Music – Skissernas Museum
www.iac.lu.se/article/bertrand-chavarria-aldrete
Instructor: Bertrand Chavarria-Aldrete