Art & Architecture
March 2–May 26, 2024
Artistic Directors: Aude Christel Mgba and Bruno Alves de Almeida.
The Luleåbiennalen 2024, On the Threshold of 1:1, gathers artistic and architectural perspectives to incite reflections on the drastic changes in Norrbotten, Sweden’s northernmost region, encompassing both its built and natural environments. Following its opening in March the biennial has unfolded through exhibitions and events across cultural institutions and public spaces in Luleå, Boden, Kiruna, and Messaure, coinciding with the most dramatic transformation in the North Bothnian landscape: the transition from winter to spring, from covered in ice and snow to revealing its bare ground. Its closing program, from May 24–26, will further explore these transformations by unveiling new works and activating existing ones.
Norrbotten, the ancestral land of the indigenous Sami, has long been in a state of change caused by local, national and global processes spanning from century-old resource extraction, and since recent years the proliferation of data storage facilities, the emergence of the so-called “green” industries, massive urban development, and environmental disruption. These and other processes have shaped and scarred the landscape and the livelihoods of those who inhabit it, materializing in transient grounds, sinking and fleeting cities, disposable settlements, and displaced communities, among others. These occurrences are undeniably palpable and immediate, yet simultaneously not entirely resolved or comprehensible, as if suspended at the scale of 1:1, in-between representation and reality. What emancipatory alternatives emerge On threshold of 1:1?
Luleåbiennalen 2024 showcases resilient practices and alternatives amidst contexts of profound transformation, both locally and globally, fostering alliances between Norrbotten and other regions and communities, both close within Sápmi, and afar, such as the Hamada Desert, the Australian Pilbara, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, and more.
The closing of the biennial takes place in Kiruna, Luleå, and Boden from May 24–26, 2024 with a programme including the unveiling of a new public artwork in Kiruna and a site-specific work in Boden’s military balloon hall, the relocation of different artworks to public space in Luleå, the activation of existing works through performances, workshops, talks, and walks, connecting communities such as the Sami, Māori, and Sahrawi, among other activities. Find more information here.
Luleåbiennalen 2024 participating artists and architects are: [*commissioned works]
Andreas R Andersson (1982, Sweden) and Karl Sjölund (1986, Sweden); Anna Zvyagintseva (1986, Ukraine); Architecture of Aroha—Gunvor Guttorm (1958, Sápmi Norway), Jasmine Te Hira (1990, Aotearoa New Zealand), Tanya White (1965, Aotearoa New Zealand), Zoe Black (1985, Aotearoa New Zealand), Berit Kristine Andersen Guvsám (1986, Sápmi Norway), Inga Ravne Eira (1948, Sápmi Norway); Daniel de Paula* (1987, Brazil); Em’kal Eyongakpa* (1981, Cameroons); Eveliina Sarapää* (1976, Sápmi Finland); Fadlabi* (1975, Sudan); Grandeza Studio – Amaia Sánchez Velasco (1985, Spain), Jorge Valiente Oriol (1984, Spain), Gonzalo Valiente Oriol (1982, Spain); Inas Halabi (1988, Palestine); INTERPRT – Nabil Ahmed (1978, Bangladesh), Olga Lucko (1985, Latvia); Jenni Laiti (1981, Sápmi Finland) and Outi Pieski (1973, Sápmi Finland); Jenny Nordmark* (1980, Sweden); Lena Stenberg* (1961, Sápmi Sweden); PHOSfate – Mohamed Sleiman Labat (1986, Algeria), Pekka Niskanen (1961, Finland); Umeå School of Architecture (UMA); wiklundwiklund* – Katarina Wiklund (1963, Sweden), Susanna Wiklund (1964, Sweden).
Established in 1991, the Luleåbiennalen stands as Scandinavia’s oldest art biennial. Since 2018, it has been organized by Konstfrämjandet (The People’s Movement for Art Promotion) in Norrbotten. Luleåbiennalen 2024 is made possible through collaboration and support from numerous partners within and beyond Norrbotten.
Luleåbiennalen 2024 – Art & Architecture: On the threshold of 1:1
May 24–26, 2024: Closing programme in Luleå, Boden and Kiruna, Sweden
March 2–May 26, 2024: Luleå, Boden, Kiruna and Messaure, Sweden
