In 2007, Anna Granqvist and Cindy Lee, along with fellow friends Ellinor Bjelm and Henrik Kihlberg, created KRETS Gallery, one of Malmö, Sweden’s first progressive contemporary art spaces. KRETS (a word that has multiple meanings in Swedish) can refer to a shared interest in something, and, in this case, encapsulates the founders’ love of presenting thought-provoking art that wouldn’t be available elsewhere.
“It was our shared interest in, and passion for, art and music that led us to opening a space where we could show and spread what otherwise have been invisible around here to a wider audience,” Granqvist says.
Granqvist and Lee, who are now KRETS’ sole owners, are both originally from Orebro, a smaller town in northern Sweden. Though they attended the same high school, they didn’t actually meet and become friends until they bonded over a shared interest in contemporary art at the Full Pull music festival in Malmö.
