Karin Signhild Hermansson (born 7 August 1981), better known as Kakan Hermansson, is a Swedish television presenter, radio host, comedian and artist. She has had her own television show on Sveriges Television (SVT) called Kaka på Kaka and has worked on shows for both Sveriges Radio and TV4. A graduate of the Stockholm art academy Konstfack, she works with a feminist art collective and has exhibited her (mostly ceramic) art in various places. She calls herself a radical feminist.[1]
Kakan Hermansson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kakan Hermansson (2013) | |
| Born | Karin Signhild Hermansson 7 August 1981 Lund, Sweden |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Kaka på Kaka, Idol 2013 |
Career edit
Television edit
Kakan Hermansson was first featured in the comedy show Locash, first broadcast on the Swedish ZTV television network in 2008.[2] She played a "hip hop-slacker" version of herself for three seasons.[3]
Along with Swedish model and musician Julia Frej, she started making comedy music videos under the name "Kakan och Julia". The videos appeared on the SVT show SVT Humor in 2010.[4] Due to the popularity of their videos, SVT offered them their own television show, Kaka på Kaka, which continued for two seasons.[4] The show mixed comedy and serious interviews with a variety of celebrities.[4]
Hermansson was an assistant to Pär Lernström on the radio programme PP3 at Sveriges Radio. In 2013, Hermansson was a travelling reporter for the TV4 show Veckans Svensk on which Lernström was the presenter,[5] and was also his assistant on TV4's Idol 2013.[6]
Radio edit
In early June 2014, Hermansson was announced as one of the "Summer Talkers" (Swedish:Sommarpratarna) for the popular Sveriges Radio P1 show Sommar i P1.[7] Hermansson criticised the lack of diversity in Sveriges Radio's selection of hosts for the show, saying "It makes me terribly angry to see how very white we are sitting here. We do not represent Sweden," referring to those attending the press conference for the show.[8] Hermansson also said that she was shocked at how "Swedish" the whole event was.[8] Journalist Mustafa Can criticised Hermansson's comments in an article in the Aftonbladet newspaper.[9]
Art edit
As an artist, Hermansson's works express ideas about gender, class, and sexuality. She graduated from Konstfack, a Swedish university college of art, crafts, and design, and among other projects arranged a nail art convention as part of her work toward her degree. She works mostly with ceramics and has had exhibitions at Stockholm's NAU Gallery and Gustavsberg's arthall.[10][11] Hermansson is one of six members of the feminist art collective Den nya kvinnogruppen (The New Women's Group) which was created in early 2013 in reaction to the dominance by male artists of the Swedish art scene.[12]
Hermansson is a lesbian and identifies as a feminist.[13] On 28 May 2014, Hermansson held an art exhibition during the "West Pride", an LGBT festival in Gothenburg.[14]
Hermansson held an exhibition at a museum run by Kristianstad council shortly after having been sacked from the Audi Q2 marketing campaign. The Facebook page comment section closed due to the high number of critical posts and police protection was provided for the exhibition.[15]
Controversy edit
In 2012, Hermansson expressed controversial comments about Swedish police and men in general on Twitter.[16] When she was hired in 2016 for a campaign by a marketing firm to take part in designing a version of the Audi Q2, Audi customers protested in social media against her participation, citing her inflammatory views. Audi chose to end the collaboration and apologised.[16] Shortly after having been sacked from the Audi marketing campaign, she publicly apologised to all police officers in Sweden for her inflammatory comments four years earlier, using her personal blog.[15]
In October 2023, Hermansson faced criticism for using derogatory language, referring to Aron Flam as "scum" in a comment on Instagram. This incident occurred after Flam had expressed support for Israel during their conflict with Hamas. Subsequently, Hermansson posted a message that contained offensive language, stating, "Zionists, fuck off," directed at those who sided with Israel in the conflict. Following widespread media attention, the Swedish edition of Elle distanced themselves from her comments and removed her blog from their website.[17]
References edit
- ^ Moraltestet: Kakan Hermansson. Sveriges Radio. 19 April 2012. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- ^ "Ska det bli åka av får man lösa det på egen hand". Resumé (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ "Ta plats – dörrar öppnas". Sydsvenskan (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 26 March 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ a b c "Kaka på Kaka ger tysta röst". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ "Kakan söker veckans svensk" (in Swedish). QX.se. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ "Per Lernström leder "Idols" comeback – och hon blir ny sidekick". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ "Kakan Hermansson kritiserar 'Sommar i P1'". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 3 June 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ a b ""Kakan" Hermansson sågar Sommar i P1" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. 3 June 2014. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
- ^ "Jag är sjukt svensk". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
- ^ "Exhibitions 2009– 2013". Gustavsbergs Konsthall. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ "Kakan och Roxy Farhat tar farväl till män". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 5 January 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ "Missionen är att demokratisera konsten". Norrbottenskuriren (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ "Rakt på sak med Kakan Hermansson". Helsingborgs Dagblad (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
- ^ Kakan Hermansson ställer ut konst under West Pride (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
- ^ a b "Polisbevakning på museum efter hatet mot Kakan Hermansson". SVT Nyheter - Skåne. 19 November 2016. Archived from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
- ^ a b "Audi avslutar samarbete med Kakan Hermansson". Dagens Industri. 15 November 2016. Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
- ^ "Elle tar "starkt avstånd" efter "Kakans bildutspel på Instagram". www.expressen.se (in Swedish). 27 October 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2023.
External links edit
- Kakan Hermansson on Blogspot (includes images of artwork)
- Den nya kvinnogruppen (The New Women's Group) Archived 10 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine (in Swedish)
Media related to Kakan Hermansson at Wikimedia Commons
