Upcoming exhibition: Making the Impossible Possible – Five Decades with Efva Lilja

Making the Impossible Possible – Five Decades with Efva Lilja is an exhibition about her fifty-year artistic career. Visitors to the exhibition can learn about her groundbreaking choreography and also gain insight into her lifelong exploration of various forms of expression. The exhibition presents the story from past to present and also includes several events and performances.

The exhibition Making the Impossible Possible – Five Decades with Efva Lilja opens 2 October 2026.

Efva Lilja (b. 1956) is one of Sweden’s most significant choreographers and cultural personalities. She has had a huge influence on contemporary dance in Sweden and internationally. Her artistry explores the body, space and society at the borderland between the personal and the political, often in partnership with other artistic forms. The body is used as a way to investigate matters of power, identity and resistance.

Efva has danced on Arctic ice, in burning fires, on treetops and underwater. She has choreographed pieces for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Centre Pompidou and Moderna Museet, for large stages, experimental forums and festivals. Her work has been shown in more than forty countries.

In addition to her artistic work, she has had leadership roles in cultural life. Among other things, she founded the dance company E.L.D. (Efva Lilja Dansproduktion), and served as vice-chancellor of the School of Dance and Circus (Dans och Cirkushögskolan, DOCH) in Stockholm and as artistic director of Dansehallerne in Copenhagen. She has been an active voice in cultural politics and has promoted matters of artistic freedom, artistic research and good conditions for artists.

50 years on stage – 70 years of life

In 2026, Efva Lilja celebrates 50 years on stage and 70 years of life. And she continues to create. During this milestone year, she will present a new piece for Dansens Hus, programme pieces at Dansmuseet, a new book and several performances from her repertoire.

As with everything Efva Lilja does, she is exploring art forms and spatiality. Presented together with the Swedish Museum of Performing Arts, this exhibition features her older and contemporary works, and also serves as a space to create something new. Throughout October, the museum is dedicating its focus to a living icon who continues to do the impossible.

Events with Efva Lilja during the exhibition period: