RUSMUS 2022 – Temporary Spaces
Artists: Tova Jertfelt, Martina Jostrup, Sara Kallionen, Mateja Kovacevic, Afrang Nordlöf Malekian, Lisa Morrissey, Hanna Romin, Emilia Sundqvist.
Curated by: Alba Folgado
Project Leaders: Nito Vega, Katarina Sundkvist.
Departing from its previous exploration of the public space as a stage of artistic interventions, RUSMUS takes “Temporary Spaces” as an umbrella-topic around which its interdisciplinary programme develops. Moving between ideas such us the accessibility of the public space, its limits, social character, uses, changing status or even the need to establish a personal and introspective relation to it, the invited artists respond to the topic and present their artworks in a wide array of locations and formats.
Space can be considered as a physical area in which bodies, action and life converge, and the boundaries of which can be fluid. Being more specific, and if we talk about “public” space, we would describe it as an open and accessible place for people, that can be either natural (like a beach), governmental (perhaps, a library), or urban (such as a square). But is the aforementioned realm truly accessible? Privatization and discriminatory policies are constantly transforming public space and limiting its use for many. Furthermore, the physical and legal structures that define it are less and less durable, making it difficult to engage in long-term conversations, constructions and exchanges, on and around it. Consequently, this project puts attention to the temporarily that characterizes socio-political relationships in the space and reflects about how we can affect them from an artistic position.
Each intervention, exhibition and artwork presents a different way of approaching the idea of the “Temporary Space”. Some, show a critical perspective on current gentrification processes that prevent people from closely connecting with the forest – which instead has to grow indoors. Others make a comparison between cultures and problematize their different approaches to gender and social descriptions in a particular location. We can also encounter the ruin or the remains that transformation leaves behind, while evoking fire as symbol of resistance and empowerment. It is even possible to find traces of a recurrent route, a memory of a place, a time, a gesture, a movement, a tale, the embodiment of a public action, a subversive scenography. All of it gathered together to tell the (hi)story of the spaceswe want to inhabit. Even if it is for a limited time.
RUSMUS is a project which focuses on supporting and guiding the practice of young artists who work, live, or are connected with Uppsala and Uppsala Region. An equally important objective for RUSMUS is to democratize the access to art by developing a series of interventions and temporary exhibitions in the public space (both indoors and outdoors). All of this is done in close collaboration with local agents, organizations, and institutions that follow the process and give some advice on the spatial requirements of each artistic intervention.
RUSMUS 2022 – Temporary Spaces is a Project initiated by Uppsala Konstnärsklubb and developed in cooperation with Uppsala Kommun, Region Uppsala and Uppsala Konstmuseum.
PROGRAM
RUSMUS site-specific
The site-specific exhibitions took place both, indoors and outdoors, in public spaces around Uppsala Region.
Temporary Spaces
April - May 2022
Exhibition at Uppsala Konstnärsklubb
Artists: Tova Jertfelt, Sara Kallioinen Lundgren, Emilia Sundqvist, Martina Jostrup
Skiften
August 2022
Exhibition att Österbybruks Labbyn
Artist: Hanna Romin
RUSMUS Mobil
A public and itinerant program that presented a number of artistic interventions around Region Uppsala.
Ett offentligt mobilt program
Håbos Hemligheter (the secrets of Håbo)
27 June & 27 August
Artistic intervention in Bålsta Aktivitetsparken
Artist: Mateja Kovacevic
-This is Water. Water, say hi!
20 & 24 August
Artistic intervention in Rosendal and Ulleråker
Artist: Lisa Morrissey
Gården sörjer mitt hjärta (the garden grieves my heart)
3 & 10 September
Artistic intervention in Gränby Centrum and Kvarngärdet
Artist: Afrang Nordlöf Malekian