Visiting: Open Call – Plattform KcSyd

How would public art be expressed if there were no official commissioner? What issues and ideas would berepresented and how would they be designed? What public spaces and locations would the artists themselves choose?

Early in the year, Plattform KcSyd (Konstnärscentrum Syd/Artists’ Centre Southern Sweden) called for applications for five sketch grants for freestanding ideas for public art. The intention was to support and highlight ideas about representation in public spaces which is not governed by an official commissioner. Great emphasis was placed on artistic originality and visionary concepts. Artists with various backgrounds and experiences were encouraged to apply. Around ninety submitted applications reflect the artists’ engagement and interest in working in public spaces on their own terms.

The artists who were awarded sketch grants are Roxy Farhat & Göran Hugo Olsson, Vala Foltyn, Ina Nian, Frida Peterson and Sofia Zwahlen. In their ideas, we encounter issues concerning the limitations and opportunities of public spaces, representation, power and existential questions about human coexistence with nature and history.

Plattform KcSyd is an artist-driven organisation working to reinforce and increase access to the role of art and artists in public spaces. The applications to the Open Callwere assessed by a jury consisting of C. Grace Chang, curator at Skånes Konstförening[Skåne Art Association],Anita Larsson,chair of KcSyd, Jamila Drott andJan Marius Kiösterud, Plattform KcSyd.