Witches

Welcome to WITCHES, an exhibition that engages all senses. Through elaborate set designs, images and videos the visitors will experience the witch trials that took place in Sweden 1668-1676. Who were the women accused of witchcraft, and why were they burnt at the stake? Opens Autumn 2024.

Satan’s fury is unleashed in Sweden in the year of our Lord 1668. Suddenly, women are being accused of witchcraft and communing with the Devil. The King sends out a Witchcraft Commission with the power to impose the death penalty. Next, verdicts are being passed and become the spark that ignites the fire all over Sweden. The Great Noise, as the witch hunts came to be called, has begun. And before it falls silent, the axe and the flames will have claimed the lives of almost 300 women.

The exhibition is based on true events as well as imagined scenarios that visualize the world of the time. What did they look like, all those women who were singled out, the children who testified against them, and the men who judged them? These images are created using artificial intelligence, making WITCHES the first historical exhibition in Sweden created with AI.

Image: Pompe Hedengren.

Exhibition production

WITCHES is created by artist Pompe Hedengren and designer and scenographer Erik Gullberg. They previously worked on the critically acclaimed exhibitions Aquanauts: The Expedition and Kraftverk – Crafts for a New Age. History teacher and broadcaster Cecilia Düringer from the P3 Historia podcast (Swedish Radio) has created the textual narrative. WITCHES is a new touring exhibition currently on display at Kalmar Castle.

A specially adapted version will be presented at the Swedish History Museum in autumn 2024.