"In 2052 Malmö Will No Longer Be Swedish"
2005-02-12 until 2005-04-10
Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art
Malmo, , SE

In order to investigate questions related to multi-cultural society, since the end of 2002 Rooseum has in collaboration with NIFCA (Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art) been working on the programme "In 2052 Malmö will no longer be 'Swedish' ". For this programme Rooseum has invited artists to come to Malmö to create site-specific projects focusing on issues of cultural diversity and co-existence.

During a three month residency at Rooseum the participating artists initiated their research in Malmö and started an exchange with the local context. The projects involved working in particular locations around the city and meeting with people working or living in Malmö. From these encounters, projects have evolved and developed their own shape. In connection with the exhibition Whatever happened to social democracy? three of the participating artists in the In 2052... programme, Laura Horelli, Lyn Löwenstein and Esra Ersen, will show their finished projects at Rooseum. Parts of their projects can also be experienced at different locations in Malmö to which they are connected.

Esra Ersen (TR) will show a new video work developed in the Malmö suburb Holma where a number of different projects have been carried out to improve the wellbeing of the inhabitants. One of the initiatives involved creating wall paintings in residential blocks. Ersen has now invited the tenants and a painter to create new motifs, next to the pre-existing romantic depictions of nature. The new paintings show the residents’ expectations and dreams for the future, which they also talk about in a video shown at Rooseum. The paintings will be shown permanentl

Laura Horelli (FI) has focused on Malmö’s transition from a city of heavy industry to a ‘city of knowledge’. At the centre of this change is, among others, Malmö University where Horelli has decided to look at research from the Department of International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER). For a period Horelli interviewed students and gathered their views and experiences in a video-based work. In the work, subjects are discussed such as the role of their education in relation to immigration in Malmö, and what are the specific problems relating to immigration in Sweden.

Lyn Löwenstein (UK) has in her work Making the World Smaller focused on the phenomenon of migration in the form of an alternative guidebook to Malmö. The book is based on interviews with local citizens with an immigrant background, each of them telling the story of their migration to Sweden and their view of Malmö. The personal histories are accompanied by information on bird migration and the theories of continental drift. The book comprises idiosyncratic perspectives on the city of Malmö and the phenomenon of migration.

In 2052 Malmö will no longer be ‘Swedish’ is supported by NIFCA, Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, The Foundation Culture of the Future, Nordic Culture Fund and British Council. The projects are carried out in collaboration with MKB Fastighets AB, IMER (Department of International Migration and Ethnic Relations) and Fosie Stadsdelsförvaltning.

IMAGE
Esra Ersen
Hamam, Installation at Standartroom,
Randers Kunstmuseum, Denmark,
2001,
Courtesy the artist, Istanbul, Turkey

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for Sweden

Other Important Exhibitions in Sweden