With a background in moral philosophy, Måns Wrange has developed many projects into the dynamics of behaviour and social consciousness in the contemporary world. His projects — which can last up to ten years or even decades — can be divided into two main strands:
The first consists of research projects which explores the politics and social psychology of public discourse in relation to the transformation of the political and media landscape, with the rise of populism, the growing political polarization and mediatization of society. This is done by using, and at the same time critically exploring, the same sophisticated methods, strategies and technologies for influencing, controlling and manipulating public opinion, as used by the political PR and lobbying industry, the national security agencies, the financial sector and the global tech companies. Examples of projects are
The Good Rumor Project,
The Average Citizen,
The Spin Word Project and
The Archive of Deleted Files.
The second strand of projects could be described as investigations of values, attitudes and social norms in general and of the Swedish welfare state in particular. Examples of projects are The Compromise House, The Encyclopedia of Failure, The History of Goodness, and
Bibliotheca Non Grata.
Måns Wrange’s projects regularly involve collaborations not only with people from other art forms, such as architecture, design, film, and literature, but also from a wide spectrum of fields considered unusual within the artistic sphere: From scientific disciplines such as sociology, economy, rhetoric, political theory, law, artificial intelligence, risk analysis and decision theory, to professional fields such as political PR/lobbyism, special intelligence analysis, political speech writing, computer game development, guerilla/viral marketing, journalism, financial analysis, public opinion polling and forecasting. Several projects do also involve collaboration with local communities, NGOs, activist groups and public institutions.
Måns Wrange’s work is widely exhibited internationally and has been included in over 200 exhibitions, biennials, and festivals including Manifesta 4, Frankfurt; Manifesta 7/The Rest is Now, Bolzano/Bozen; ICA – The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna; MoMA PS1, New York; PROSPECT/Shirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; InSite_05, San Diego/Tijuana; Santa Monica Museum of Art, Los Angeles; De Appel Arts Centre, Amsterdam; Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb; The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; The 6th Baltic Contemporary Art Biennale HABITAT, Szczecin; Arnolfini Art Center, Bristol; Central House of Artists, Moscow; ICA – Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg, and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey (MARCO), Monterrey.
In 2008-2014 Måns Wrange was rector of the Royal Institute of Art / Kungl. Konsthögskolan in Stockholm. Before that he held different leading positions at Konstfack, University College of Art, Crafts and Design in Stockholm 1995-2014; as professor of fine art, head of the department and founding director of WIRE - Critical Writing and Curatorial Practices and
CuratorLab. Måns Wrange has also held a visiting professorship at DSV, Stockholm University 2014-2017, as well as being a research supervisor at DSV, Stockholm University 2010-2014 and at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts 2005-2009.