Search Worlds Without End

In 1997, a runaway teenager and her yellow toy robot travel west through a strange USA. The ruins of gigantic battle drones litter the countryside, heaped together with the discarded trash of a high tech consumerist society in decline. As their car approaches the edge of the continent, the world outside the window seems to be unraveling ever faster--as if somewhere beyond the horizon, the hollow core of civilization has finally caved in.

Simon Stålenhag is the internationally acclaimed author, concept designer, and artist behind Tales from the Loop and Things from the Flood. His highly imaginative images and stories depicting illusive sci-fi phenomena in mundane, hyper-realistic Scandinavian landscapes have made Stålenhag one of the most sought-after visual storytellers in the world. In The Electric State, Stålenhag turns his unique vision to America.

Tales from the Loop takes viewers on a surprising sci-fi journey through various country and city landscapes - from small towns in Sweden and the deserts of Nevada to the bitter chill of Siberia - where children explore and engage with abandoned robots, vehicles, and machinery large and small, while dinosaurs and other creatures wander our roads and fields.

Stålenhag's paintings and stories take place in an alternate version of Sweden in the '80s and '90s, primarily in the countryside of Mälaröarna, a string of islands just west of Stockholm, and how this reality came about: the development of the Loop, a large particle accelerator and the side effects of the massive project.

These incredibly captivating works and accompanying text capture perhaps a not-too-distant reality that is both haunting and imminent: addressing the many ways developing technology and nature can create havoc and wonder in our world - plus, its impact on the next generation.

The Loop is closed. Life is returning to normal when the pastoral countryside is suddenly flooded by dark water from the huge abandoned underground facility. Rumors spread in classrooms and schoolyards, stories about the flood and how it has brought something with it. One thing is clear: the past is not ready to be forgotten.

In his new artbook Things From The Flood, Stålenhag continues the stories of Tales From The Loop. The story of memories of a Nordic childhood infused with strange machines and weird creatures from other dimensions moves from the 80s into the 90s, the decade of great change when the outside world truly came to Scandinavia. These are tales of the trials of youth, of schoolyard hazings, of first kisses, of finding yourself - and robots.