Beyond Site/Sight's Community

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Malin Andersson, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

I do research for instance about the meetings industry, and more specifically convention bureaus´ place marketing of professional meetings. My empirical data is convention bureaus online marketing of places; their communication of place related values directed to potential meetings bookers.

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?

By collecting visitors´/ planners´/leaders´/users´/citizens´/consumers´ different and/or similar stories about their view of- and understanding of a certain room/a site/an area, how and they have been viewing that place, what history and stories they connect to it,  how they are experiencing a place right now and how they envision its future.

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

In order to make sure that the research is relevant and timely, I as a researcher can and should co-create in the sense that I aim for a certain level of collaboration between societal actors in the study and the academic community. It can for instance be useful to co-create by joint seminars, workshops and conferences

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Peter Bengtsen, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

I have been researching and writing about street art and graffiti since 2006. In my work, one aspect I have covered is the way that street art can turn urban public space into what I call a site of exploration. In brief, this means that unexpected encounters with street art can cause people to become more conscious of the spaces they move through and can also encourage a more active exploration of, and engagement with, our everyday environments.

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?

As a part of a recent project on graffiti writing in Malmö, I found that members of Malmö’s graffiti world (both graffiti writers and others who take an interest in graffiti) may develop a refined attentiveness to, and deeper knowledge of, the city’s geography, topography, materials and textures. This started as a hypothesis, based on my own experience, which I then tested through the use of experimental methods (see below).

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

Recently, I have been working with visual methods (mostly photography, videography and visual analysis). I have also undertaken research that involves more experimental approaches, including creating scavenger hunts in Malmö to test the idea that members of the city’s graffiti world have intimate knowledge about the city. One outcome of this effort is a 9-minute research video, see the following link.

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Natalia Bobadilla, Sorbonne Paris Nord University

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

As a researcher I look at the socio-material relation between organizing and space in the context of creative industries and alternative cultural organizations. I focus on the transformation of these types of organizations over time and on the effects of such a transformation on creativity and innovation. As a practitioner, I build collaborations with actors in alternative organizations so research and action can feed each other. I am a member of the advisory board of the association- collective MU which coordinates La Station Gare de Mines where I have been conducting longitudinal research since 2018 until now. With Collectif MU I have been producing reflective seminars about issues related to place making in different European Contexts. These efforts have led to the creation of a multidisciplinary network of researchers interested in alternative and underground artistic organizations. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

Using a "sense of place" as material and a starting point for research or artistic work is a powerful concept.  Currently, I am developing a research project with architect and researcher Ilona Touchard to understand the role of ambiances (Böhme, 2013; Thibaut, 2015)  in value production.  Various Alternative Cultural Places (ACP’s) around the world constitute the corpus of this research: Communitism- Athens/ BrunnenPassage- Vienne- La Station Gare de Mines-Paris, La Esquina Redonda- Bogotá, Hanoi Underground Mouvement- Hanoi. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

Longitudinal, ethnographic, processual, art-based methods, Action Research. It is important to create  multidisciplinary research teams. 

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Ebba Bolmehag, Tryggare Sverige

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

In the search for shaping sustainable environments, places and cities for all, the fundamental pillars are seldomly forgotten. Welcoming places have to be attractive, identifiable and safe, where the latter is one of humans’ most basic needs. When it comes to safety in the public space the most obvious aspect affecting every user of the place is the one related to crime and disorder; certain external events that affect the way people perceive and use a space and its contents. Crime as well as safety issues are highly dependent on “place”, on where we are, what we do, what others do, what we experience on a specific spot. An attractive place is a place free of risk for crime, a place communicating a feeling of safety and sense of attachment. Placemaking can help in achieving this all by focusing on activating a place with different functions to be comfortable for a variety of people. And by providing things to do so there are always other people present. If a place feels safe, we may be able to make them loveable too, following the logic of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

How is it possible to use sense of place as material for starting?

As said before, the overall experience of a public place is highly connected to how we feel at a place, how we perceive our own safety. Including the users and local residents in the process of analyzing and shaping a place creates the right prerequisites for the place to be perceive as being welcoming and safe. Safe places present an environment where one can experience a feeling of “being at home”, a place with an identity and atmosphere one can personally relate to. The story a place can tell is therewith an important starting point for identifying how users use and experience a place and how it may be improved.

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

In our Safety Analyses we include field visits during which we observe the usage of a place as well as interview people on the spot about how they perceive different parameters or perform in-depth interview studies with different actors/representors of users in the area. When it comes to public spaces we make use of our concept “Platssamverkan” which is a Swedish version of a BID-program (Business Improvement District). With this we can involve different local actors as well as users and residents in the process of identifying issues, challenges and set up a plan for change and together figure out possible physical interventions and plan for activities.

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Nicole Carpentari, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

I believe that everything that is an identity is tight. The definition of a job is often tight, the definition of art, the conventional definition of daughter, or that of mother. I try to equip myself with tools that allow me to stay within these categories without remaining caged. In my student-research-work, present, and hopefully future, I try to have the same gaze in any place. As I see it, what makes the difference is the attempt to apply methods, not to fill in boxes.

How is it possible to use sense of place as material for starting?

There is an individual lexicon, but there is also a collective concrete lexicon that passes through every social body. Bodies that are made of stories of daily toil, of ordinarity, of banal unpredictability. Every relationship is a negotiation. Negotiation which must also concern the language. And scientific language sometimes uses categories that do not correspond to what we feel, what we see, what we question, what we do not understand. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

Placemaking, or place-shaping, happens through relationships in which we see each other, becoming a process, a circle of freedom. Which tightens, but does not close. Getting used to wait, like cooking times, living with the unpredictable, building continuity. Together, yet each person in their own way. Perhaps that is the recipe. The kitchen is an example of this: it is a space of transformation, adaptation, resistance and sometimes revolution. Cooking entails also accepting others by virtue of what they know, in a mutual collective experience. For instance: how do you make tomato sauce?

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Despina Christoforidou, Lund University

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

In my research, I explore norms, values, and blindspots within design, drawing from concepts like dramaturgy and breaching experiments. Norm breaches reveal underlying cultural norms and expand possibilities in various fields. Breachers often occupy an in-between position, acting as insiders and outsiders simultaneously. This dynamic, termed "mellanförskap" in Swedish, implies a more active stance, suggesting potential for movement and expansion.  Mellanförskap proves valuable in understanding interdisciplinary nature of design, positioning it between art and science. Designers, as "mellanförskapare," navigate this space, experiencing both challenges and opportunities. Finding balance and acceptance within this role is crucial for personal well-being and creative contribution.  Fellow breachers and inclusive environments are essential for mellanförskapare to thrive, offering spaces for reflection, collaboration, and inspiration. These metaphorical "glades" serve as sanctuaries where breachers and mellanförskapare can connect, recharge, and find strength and kinship. The delicate balance between idealism and breaching is often influenced by the encounters within these spaces. } = Ø = { 

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Per-Johan Dahl, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

I am an architect, and a researcher in architecture. For architectural discipline and practice, the notion of place and space, and the processes of placemaking and space construction, remain key aspects for the design and understanding of our built environment. Personally, and for many years, I have found Michele Foucault’s distinction between the concepts of place and space to be utterly useful, both in theory and in practice. Drawing on his seminal text “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias,” we can understand place as something delineated, defined – something rather static and local -- while space remains intersected with time, thus instigates something in motion, something infinitely open. Yet, however, we also realize that place and space always intersect and overlap, thus are difficult to separate, at least in practice. Foucault discusses a historical ensemble of places, such as urban places, rural places, open and exposed places. We may use architectural and urban typologies to materialize such ensemble, for example through the city square, the community garden, the atrium, and the roof terrace. All these typologies describe tangible places, where humans and non-humans can meet, socialize, and thrive. As a designer and scholar, I rely much on Robin Evan’s statement that “architects don’t make buildings, they make drawings of buildings.” Thus, my practice relates to placemaking through means of representation, such as drawings, models, and texts.

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?

Architecture is first and foremost an art form – architecture became a discipline through art, architectural practice relies, to a large degree, on artistic processes. My own work operates primarily within the theoretical framework of constructivism. To design and understand our built environment, I must evaluate both empirical and sensorial data. To me, it is utterly important to process not only the things we see, but also the things we don’t see. Within this operative mode, it becomes crucial to translate a sense of place through the means of representation that we use to formulate instructions for placemaking and space construction.

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

My primary methods reside within architectural representation and pedagogy. For architectural representation, I use drawings and models in sketch and/or presentation mode. Ideally, I include 1:1 scale prototypes – a method of co-creation and relationship building that operates in-between representation and construction. For pedagogy, I use dynamic interactions between groups and individuals. Instant changes in the size and configuration of social formations often install certain levels of uncertainty and unpredictability, which tend to accelerate creativity. I believe the open-ended character of this pedagogy is becoming increasingly important for our common effort of responding to the global challenges.
 

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Jörgen Dahlqvist, Lund University

Representation of Place through Theatre 

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

In my practice as a playwright, director, and artistic director of the performing arts collective Teatr Weimar, I have been interested in the sense of place in different ways. This has to do with an overall desire to understand how theatre can contribute to the knoledge on how to solve societal challenges. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

In a trilogy of performances produced by Teatr Weimar the Canadian journalist Doug Saunders' concept of 'Arrival City' (2011) was used as a lens to explore aspects of migration through intermedial theatre. According to Saunders, migration from rural to urban areas is a key factor in the development and prosperity of the world and this also became a call for engagement. The performances Arrival cities: Malmö (2013), Arrival Cities: Växjö (2013) and Arrival Cities: Hanoi (2103) were all part of a research practice that aimed to understand the anatomy and mechanisms of migration and xenophobia (see Nguyễn & Östersjö) while developing novel methods of enhancing storytelling in theatre with mediatised technology (see Olofsson 2018; Dahlqvist & Olofsson 2023).

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

Since then, I have used Helsingborg as the backdrop in three performances to discuss socio-economic division and the democratic engagement in Sweden. Knutpunkten (2019) used the train- and ferry station, a location that balances on the invisible border between the Northern and Southern parts of Helsingborg, as a meeting place for fictional characters from different parts of Helsingborg to meet and to discuss their life situation in a dramatic play. Trädgårdsgatan (2021) portrayed three generations of women living in Helsingborg. Although the storyline and characters are fictional, the play relates to real places in the city. Finally, the audio walk Monument (2022) explored Helsingborg's identity through the questions of who the city is there for and what the citizens want it to be. Using place as an object of exploration allows me as a theatre maker to engage with society and to enable a discussion of the common interests in society through theatre. 

References

• Dahlqvist, J. (2019) Trädgårdsgatan, Dramatic text, unpublished
• Dahlqvist, J. (2021) Knutpunkten, Dramatic text, unpublished
• Dahlqvist, J. & Olofsson, K. (2023). Performing with Technology. Echo Journal, Issue #5, 30 June 2023, https://echo.orpheusinstituut.be/article/performing-with-technology
• Nguyễn, T T & Östersjö, S. (2019). Arrival cities: Hanoi. Laws, C. et al. (eds.), (2019). Voices, bodies, practices. Leuven: Leuven University Press
• Olofsson, K. (2018). Composing the performance: An exploration of musical composition as a dramaturgical strategy in contemporary intermedial theatre. Diss. Lund : Lunds universitet, Lund
• Saunders, D. (2011). Arrival city. London: Windmill

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Ida de Wit Sandström, Lund University 

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

As a researcher, I have recurringly taken an interest in the relations between retail, place, and space. What makes a retail destination? How are retail spaces made? What does it take to make customers return there? I have thought and written about the aesthetics of retail spaces and how retail spaces contribute to places. This is also something that I carry with me in my own practice as a retailer in the jewellery specialist trade. It is often said that “retail is detail”, meaning that successful retail professionals should give close attention to their customers as well as to how their products are presented and how their shop is maintained. However, far too often the places and spaces are not given enough attention and the basics are forgotten.   

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

As everything happens somewhere, it seems rather impossible to me not to acknowledge place as a point of departure. For me, place is context and a backdrop that interacts with different cultural and social phenomena.  

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

In a world where digitalisation is changing the terms for business, demands for distinction and profiling are increasing, and consumers are becoming ever more unpredictable and show a multitude of consumption patterns my academic and practical interests for the timeless tricks of retailing seem to be growing. Unlike what you might think these tricks have little to do with AdWords, influencer marketing or the latest gadgets within the ever-increasing field of electronical must-haves. Not that there is anything wrong with AdWords, influencers, or gadgets, I just want to point to more mundane qualities that you too seldom encounter in the contemporary retail landscape, although one could consider them to be hygiene factors. During my life in retail and my research with the field, I have noticed the importance of atmospherics and presentation. Atmospherics can be a lot of things: interiors, decoration, scents, or the choice of music. Even more important, it is also how customers are met and treated. Presentation can be marketing, selling styles or shop aesthetics. All retail workers devote themselves to creating atmospherics and presenting their goods in appropriate ways. However, the basics are often forgotten. Far too often retail spaces are dirty, unkept and goods not looked after. Trivial, daily practices such as cleaning windows, dusting, and vacuum cleaning signals care about space and place, signalling that potential or existing customers should do so too.  

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Magnus Florin

How does your practice relate to placemaking?  

Place is a temporal expression for the activity happening in that specific moment of time and space. Place becomes because of the attention it is given and is related to through presuppositions of the attention giver. Place is made through negotiation of actions and agency of the entities present.  

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

This question is, for me, connected to deep listening. Deep listening is listening beyond the words, beyond the individual, beyond the collective and beyond the situation to the emerging flow of life at this specific moment and this specific situation in space and time. Deep listening is a practice that develops and enhances any artistic work and is a fundamental good starting point for any artistic or research related endeavour. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

The ladder of co-creation - a conceptual framework for co-creation based on five qualities: Holding a trustful liminal space, Deep listening, Freedom of structure and roles, Flow and Imagination. 

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Cecilia Fredriksson, Lund University

Department of Service Studies

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

For me as an ethnologist, the ethnographic approach is an im­portant part of the understanding of placemaking practices. I am interested in the ongoing aestheticization of cities and urban environments, and how the urban culture is shaped based on artistic ambitions. I am also interested in the ongoing dialogue about who is responsible for developing the urban space and how a “living city” should be designed. There is a strong belief in the power and potential of culture and creativity in terms of making a place visible. These ambitions are often shaped in the form of various projects and events linked to specific values. Along with visions of a living city, follow visions of what kind of attractions and what kind of environments and atmosphere such a city needs.

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?

By composing and using drawings and paintings in my fieldworks I have become more aware of what matters and the importance of thinking along the lines as creative method and as tool for interpreta­tion. Sketching and drawing can be compared to written ethnographic notes made during fieldwork or observation. The relationship between drawing and taking notes can be regarded as a dialogue, an ongoing conversation in which getting close to the place is more important than the competence to draw. The sketchbook functions as a memory object for the ethnographic experi­ence. It creates connections between words and images and, as Micheal Taussig puts it, new connections between inner and outer worlds. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

A recent example from my ongoing practice is the use of a contemporary phenomenon, urban sketching, as an empirical starting point to develop visual methods and perspectives in the borderland between cultural analysis and artistic research. Through active participation as an urban sketcher, I try to analyse my analytical process and artistic practice. Based on the connection between urban ideals and innovative, creative environments in a local context, I try to get close to a sense of place by drawing and painting myself into an area of urban ambience. 

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Lizette Gradén, Lund University   

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

I understand placemaking as performative, shaped through human and non-human interaction, and that materialize over time. As a researcher and museum practitioner, I want to learn about nowhere, and how living and working in such places makes it somewhere. From experience, I rest assured that such practice can take me anywhere.

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?

The trajectory from nowhere to anywhere, via somewhere may mean writing an academic paper or article, co-create an exhibition, facilitating a performance of some sort, or craft a workshop, a class, or conference: something that helps explore and communicate a work in progress, and help in moving towards a new step or result. Over the years, I have learned about migration heritage, the making of home and creating diversity by living and working with festivals and parades in rural Kansas, co-created a theatre for new Nordic playwrights in Chicago, and I have had the privilege to work with numerous artists, folklorists, and curators on museum collections and exhibitions in the Nordic countries and the US.

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

The methods I find most rewarding for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place is generally long-term or repeated fieldwork; building new knowledge and trust by being present, staying curious, and engaged. Lately, I have focused on rural places where labor,  nature , and culture come to us through the circular pace of planting, harvesting, threshing, seasonal celebrations and traditional making things from rye. Moreover, I have worked with women whose entire life has been devoted to making material collections and building museums, and whose capacity as cultural builders help create diversities and sharing culture with people of all ages.  The people I work with taught me to always ask, “Whose performance is this, what is about, why is it relevant and to whom, and what kind of world does it shape performatively?” 

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Elisabeth Högdahl, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

My research has for many years concentrated on how places are made in different ways; through physical design, but above all by understanding the making of place through immaterial factors; everyday movement, storytelling, memories, and the discourses that characterize different places. I have focused on how place identity is created through these factors, and how place identity is related to belonging and feelings of inclusion. I have also focused on how power relations create different forms of hierarchization, inclusion and exclusion, and how loopholes can be used in the interface between top-down strategies and every-day practices, to claim space. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

Using these perspectives to understand relationships to places, my research has increasingly come to focus on methods for developing places based on these intangible factors. I use place identity and place-making as a starting point for method development, partly to develop and design places, but also to deal with various forms of inclusion and exclusion problems. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

One method developed is about how people's memories and connection to places can be the starting point for innovative and inclusive place development, Memory Planning Methods. The method Equalizer is about how to disrupt place-bound norms that prevent different forms of use and develop supportive physical design. The method development has been done in collaboration with actors who are also outside the university; practices such as architecture, planning and cultural heritage management, but also through collaboration with people who live in and make use of places. This has also created changing practices and physical expressions in different places. 

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Ola Jacobson, Helsingborg municipality

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

The most obvious example is the Gåsebäck development where the creatives and artists are supported by the city to develop the former industrial district into a vibrant and attractive district where people will want to work, live and visit – and feel safe. As a city we support creatives and artists in different ways: grants, finding workplaces and venues, connecting people and invite them for dialogue activities. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

We are using different kinds of design thinking methods, based on the assumption that only the user can create their own value with the help that the city offers. However, different projects uses different methods to engage different target groups in activities that will encourages them to take action themselves. One important part of this is to make it known what possibilities and resources are accessible and for what means. For disabled youth for instance, we are creating new safe and meeting places where the activities are based on their abilities, interests and demands. For creatives we are developing a whole district with a mix of surveys, workshops, co-creation processes, grants and dialogues with the aim to let the bottom-up initiatives lead the way in creating the place. In many cases the city officials can connect different organisations and individuals to each other when we see that they have mutual interests and supplementary resources. 

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Dennis Kerkhof, Helsingborg Stad

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

Our practice in Gåsebäck doesn’t relate to placemaking in the more traditional sense, we are more in the stage of placebranding where we are deciding what the people residing in our area want and expect. We are gathering forces, starting up dialogues and finding people that take an active interest in the area. At the same time we are not only focusing on public spaces. In Gåsebäck we have the unique opportunity to use buildings as a part of our placemaking/placebranding. Some of the people we took in as tennants have been involved in our placebranding. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

In Gåsebäck I think the sense of place is much more connected to the people in the area than the actual physical area and/or the buildings itself. We are using that as a base in our city development project (focus on people and community in stead of buildings) so it seems like a good starting point for research and artistic work as well. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

Our approach is based on being a facilitator in our area. Which is based on the realisation that our organisation (the city of Helsingborg) has its limits. We, as a whole, cannot really comprehend or create the kind of environment that the current inhabitants want us to create. We are making ourselves dependant on the energy and creativity of the people that want to work and live in Gåsebäck and work to support them in creating it for themselves. We do this by trying to be the connector between Gåsebäck (unstructured, wild, full of energy) and the City organisation (structured, governed by rules, bureaucratic) in any way shape and form we think is needed. 

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Steinunn Knúts Önnudóttir, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

I work with “relation specific performances” that explore and nurture human connections and their relation to the more-than-human world, places, and entities. The performances are both human specific and site specific, inviting guests for a performative encounter with a host in a place. Throughout these “performative encounters”, participants intertwine their own narratives and concerns with those inherent to the place, resulting in a transformative experience that redefines the essence of the location 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?  

Utilizing the sense of place as both material and a starting point for research and performance making is fundamental to my approach. It is only by situating myself as an artist and researcher that I feel equipped to create or take any action. I cannot act from a place of non-existence. When creating performances, I attentively observe the attributes of a place through all my senses and from my subjective viewpoint, professional gaze, curiosity, and set of values, after which I initiate an engagement with the site. This situated and subjective approach, which I refer to as "me-thod," is central to my practice as both an artist and a researcher 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

I employ a concept I refer to as "performative encounters," which involves a series of interactions between a guest and a host or other agents within a performance setting. These encounters utilize “porous and embracing dramaturgies”, creating an environment where guests can actively contribute their own material to the performance. Both dramaturgical tools aim to facilitate meaningful connections between guests and hosts, enabling each participant to integrate their personal concerns into an artistic framework. 

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Sandra Kopljar, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

My main interest in relation to placemaking is to interrogate how place can be seen as a simultaneously local and globally influenced experience steered by carried biographies and knowledge. I see “places” as essentially unstable and sprawling ideas that resist a uniform definition. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

I have worked with practical interventions, and theoretical and artistic speculations of alternative futures. This has been done in order to give several interpretations, and many implications of place, in relation to what is often taken for granted through collective and individual expectations of certain futures. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

In order to interrogate taken for granted paths of for example urban development or regulations, artistic methods that include sensory experiences and immediate affects have a potential to introduce an understanding of alternative scenarios and places.
 

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Liga Lagzdina, Se Din Konst

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

I work at a culture association with a plan to create a children’s art gallery. In this context, my practice relates to placemaking by creating a space that is specifically tailored to give space for children and young people’s unique artistic expression. The gallery will also be a place for them to experience and be inspired by the art of other artists in specifically curated exhibitions. By designing the gallery with their perspectives in mind, it becomes a place where they feel welcome, empowered, and inspired to explore their creativity.

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

The place as a starting point for research and artistic work for us means engaging with the local physical environment and the community. This could include incorporating elements of the surrounding area and the history of the building into the exhibitions, collaborating with local artists and organisations. The children and young people could be invited to explore and engage with the gallery and the place in their creative process. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

For co-creation and relationship building in relation to the children and young people’s art gallery, we work with various groups who visit the space and participate in creative brainstorming workshops. We plan to involve children and young people in the planning and design process of the gallery together with city planners and architects. We also host community events and workshops in cooperation with partnerships with schools, youth centers, and cultural institutions to gather input and feedback. https://sedinkonst.se/ 

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Marie Ledendal, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

As textile designer and researcher with a specific interest in materiality, I am interested in how bodies and artefacts relate to space and place. I have, in different ways, explored textiles and art in public spaces, how textiles can create more dynamic settings in for examples cities or in settings for healthcare, as well as which role public art can play in place branding processes.

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?

As textile designer and researcher, using the sense of place as a starting point is an interesting aspect. Relating to my work, this may differ in relation to specific project, as well as the place. Sometimes I start in the later, building on which scenarios or narratives that can be perceived or understood. Sometimes I start in the aspect of materiality, exploring the space through dimensions and qualities of materials. What impacts does a material have on a place? How does materiality relate to body and space, and how does the three interact? How can one alter the perception or experience of a place depending on artefacts’ tactility and visuality, trough exploring shape, colour and structure? I am interested in how places can be co-created through adding new materials. Something that I have explored through co-created textile art installations in the urban space, where I have constructed frameworks which I have invited participants to take part in, as well as that I have studied craftivism - activism through textile materials and textile techniques, looking at the role of materiality has in this type of activism.  

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

As textile designer and researcher, I am interested in projects that lie in the borderland between design, art and research, in questions that take me outside the more traditional framework. I find that using art and practice-based design methods within research projects opens up for alternative thinking. As does using more ‘research-based’ methods in art and design processes. I have a specific interest in methods building on co-creating art processes. In my experience, these have potential to allow for unexpected and playful results and insights. I have for example worked with art-installations in the urban city space, that in different ways has invited citizens through co-creation processes, to discuss and explore a place through materiality.

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Henrik Loodin, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

My research is primarily concerned with various aspects of healthcare. At present, I am exploring the impact of place on well-being, with a particular focus on the role of hospital environments in promoting wellbeing, compassion and ‘care’. Hospitals plays an important function within the healthcare system, serving as an infrastructure for the provision of accessible and high-quality healthcare. 

 How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

Sense of place is an immaterial value. As a sociologist, I investigate the transformation of material resources (e.g. financial capital) into immaterial value (e.g. well being and sense of place). This can be conceptualised in the case of welfare systems, which services aim to convert economic capital into quality of care, health, or social security. In this context, the sense of place represents an entry point for the study of the value of for example a waiting room at a cancer clinic or of the service staff's lunch room at a hospital. Here, artists possess here a unique ability to describe these values into concrete forms, some things can only be expressed artistically. Here it is quite evident that economic value or measurements are unable to fully capture the real value of a waiting room in a cancer clinic. However, artistic methods may be better equipped to express this value than cost-benefit analysis. When these values have been made concrete, they can be discussed and assessed in terms of their potential to promote change in poorly functioning structures, or to maintain existing structures that are functioning well. 

 What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?   

The healthcare sector is characterised by a high degree of decentralisation, with a wide range of providers offering services in various places, including the home, the workplace and the shops where you buy your food at. A project about sepsis survivors, I was involved in, had the aimed to gain insight into the experiences of sepsis survivors regarding the knowledge management models developed by Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions (SALAR/SKR). In order to identify which aspects of the recovering phase that were important to the participants, workshops and dialogue meetings with survivors were conducted.

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Petra Lundin, Manifesto 

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

Manifesto has developed successful branding strategies, design and communication for several municipalities in Sweden, from Malmö to Hudiksvall. In the near future we plan to develop places in closer cooperation with the inhabitants to make them take part in making places more climate friendly and fun with gender equality as an obvious requirement. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

All places have their own unique identity and together with the people who live, work and spend time in the places we can build on the uniqueness and use research, art and design to make people feel the benefits and great feeling of more climate friendly and gender equal spaces. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

At Manifesto we talk with people we meet in different places to get a broader perspective of inhabitants' view of their city. We have had workshops at our office and in other places in cities with both politicians, business communities, civil servants and inhabitants to make places more sustainable. We have accommodated the world's smallest design museum at our office where we showed exhibitions about the advantages of design and sustainability. We have participated with several projects within Visionsfonden at the city of Helsingborg with the aim to involve and engage inhabitants in developing their city to become a more climate friendly and socially sustainable city. For myself, I also work part time with communication for the city of Helsingborg at the urban planning department, where we focus on gender equality, climate and social sustainability with the help of dialogue, workshops, communication and place making. 

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Kirsti Mathiesen Hjemdahl, Cultiva Foundation

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

We invest in placemaking, by the means of art, culture and knowledge. For more than twenty years, we have supported nearly 1000 small and larger projects in Kristiansand by the amount of NOK 1 billion. This spans from so-called signature investments as a theatre and concert hall and art museum, to several competence centres,  art- and cultural projects, sport events and digital programs. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

In our strategy, we aim for strong and long term partnerships. We have for instance transformed an old art museum into a mixture of student house together with the local University and the student association. But we also nudge the ones applying Cultiva for funding, to seek partnerships across competence fields and art genres and to invite inhabitants and/or audience into co-creation processes. 

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Ilkin Mehrabov, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

Utilizing a sense of place as a material or as a starting point for research/artistic work involves, among many other phenomena, tapping into the unique characteristics, feelings, emotions, sentiments, and meanings associated with any physical (and, in the past occasionally and now increasingly, digital) location. Examples of such an approach could drastically vary, and be tailored to the individual choices, preferences, expertise, knowledge, and preferences of the researcher. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?

In my personal case, coming from a background of scholarly engagement with digital activism (and beyond, as in example of flashmobs, which could be described as ephemeral instances of placemaking through performative collective action), I am very much interested in improving ways of collaborating with local communities, e.g., engaging with local communities through participatory video art and experimental film/photography projects where emphasis is placed on co-creating artworks that reflect the locals’ own perspectives and experiences of the place (fostering meaningful connections and enriching the whole creative process). 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

Having dealt with several visual methods in the past and continuing to be greatly interested in them, currently I am more inclined to engage with novel technologies that could even further enhance the feeling of space, e.g., augmented and virtual reality technologies that could innovatively contribute into understanding and vividly portraying the layers of history embedded in a place – including significant events, influential people, and societal changes that have shaped the location’s identity. Additionally, in recent months, I have developed a keen interest in using various cartographic approaches, i.e., mapping techniques and spatial analysis, to visually represent the characteristics of the place and better interpret its spatial fabric, e.g., by creating maps that highlight significant landmarks, notable routes, or topographical features of the place, revealing hidden patterns and relationships within the environment in playful ways and through embedded game dynamics. 

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Marthe Nehl, Lund University 

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

As a social scientist with an affinity to cultural geography, I understand space and place(making) as an important dimension in how I make sense of what I study. Here I would pay special attention to expressions in the form of stickers, posters, tags, or graffiti to sense dynamics not always tangible in the first place. I would also look at how spaces are used, who is present and who is not, and see whether interesting questions come up.

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?

I am viewing the social and spatial as entangled to some extent and I prefer to do research on site. During 2020 and 2021, I tested walking interviews in which the space we walked through could spark conversations and add another valuable layer of information to the conversations. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

If I understand interviews as co-created data, I would say that the joint experience of walking a neighborhood, of dealing with noises, smells, and the weather, like rain, or wind, is something I share with interviewees and that is usually something connecting. Once we needed to share an umbrella and another time, we talked about memories of how an area has changed in the past years. I guess walking together, even though the space was not always of immediate concern for the research, has been a connecting experience and I would do it again, independent of a pandemic forcing me to, or not.

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Michael Nilsson, Manifesto

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

I started Manifesto in 1995 and have been working with place development for almost twenty years now. In 2006 and 2010, I participated in two projects for Copenhagen Malmö Port. Together with SAMARK architects, I worked on visions for the development of the ports in Malmö and Copenhagen. In 2009, I participated in an international design workshop in Malmberget, where I collaborated with 35 architects and designers from around the world to develop various strategies to move a city. In 2011, I collaborated with Metro architects on a vision for the area around Mieån in central Karlshamn. When I work with architects, I represent vox populi. Since then, I have developed strategies for different places around Sweden: Alvesta, Hudiksvall, and Kristinehamn, to name but a few. My strategy för Söderhamn led to the municipality's first positive population net growth in 21 years. (And loads of more work.)

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

My own starting point is always the sense of place. Nota bene, it is not primarily my own sense of a place that I start from, but that of the residents. Almost everyone has a latent desire to like the place they live or work in. I activate this latent pride through social inclusion and various forms of involvement. When I was invited to participate in Denmark's national branding process, I realized how differently involvement is perceived in Denmark and Sweden. Among other objectives, Branding Danmark set out to create 5.5 million ambassadors.

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

In Söderhamn, I focused on involving the young residents, who are avid users of social media. (2010, I had just published the printed version of my first book on social media.) I held a workshop with children, talked to young people in the city, and at a cinema. Additionally, I initiated an advertising film competition for the local youth. 13 entries resulted in 11,000 views, which is about the same number as the population of the urban area. Here in Helsingborg, I have led several co-creation projects with support from the Vision Fund in Helsingborg Municipality. I have made films, cooked food, and created a city anthology together with the people of Helsingborg. Hopefully, our next collaboration will be AI.

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Magdalena Petersson Mcintyre, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

I am senior lecturer and researcher in Fashion studies, at Campus Helsingborg. In my research I have, for instance, analyzed how cultural values, such as luxury, are mediated by places, in particular perfume stores. I have approached luxury, not as a value created somewhere else, for instance by a marketing department, but actively created in the store in the interactions between sales assistants, objects on display and consumers. This perspective entails that place-making is an active practice and that the meaning of a place is created through connections with present and distant others. I have analyzed perfume and cosmetics stores as mediated physical experiences of luxury and shown how stores become luxurious places by use of sensory marketing and how sales assistants co-create luxury with the sense of touch. This relates to how certain places become imbued with values, and how such value-creation takes place. I have also studied influencers and how their success relies on contracting and expanding spatial relations, in cyberspace. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

I would focus on how places are made, and how sense of place is created and constructed by the different interacting actors in a particular place.  I see sense of place as an ongoing process that might have many different, and sometimes conflicted, meanings. A non-essential and active practice.  

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

I use visual ethnography that combines visual analyses with consumers’ ways of making sense of objects, places and practices. 

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Elizaveta Pritykina, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

Placemaking is an interdisciplinary approach that includes cooperation of both professionals and ordinary citizens invested in the process of public spaces improvement, with the purpose of delivering maximum value. Local communities essential for networking, a sense of belonging, the birth of new ideas, and the exchange of experiences all revolve around public spaces. They become the face of the city and allow it to express its identity and maximize its cultural potential. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

Placemaking and the arts play an integral role in civic, social, and democratic life. Today, the sense of belonging to a place is fragile, so arts organizations and artists involved in placemaking work hard to encourage deeper understanding of themselves and their places of living in people from regions, cities and towns and are constantly searching for more practices that forge relationships between places and communities through art making.  

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

Jan Gehl, a renowned Danish architect and urban design consultant, once said that we shape cities first - then they shape us. Hence, exploring placemaking and public space issues in general is vital today, as we need to completely rethink our perception of and attitude towards the public sphere, public resources, and issues of identity. 

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Iury Salustiano Trojaborg, Lund University

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

How much does leaving one’s countries of origin in the Southern Hemisphere and moving to Europe change one’s perception of the world and unterstanding of one´s own origins in colonized countries? How much does that affects the relation to the countries one moves to: colononizer and colonized, exploiter and exploited, a relation with “proximity without reciprocity”, as scholar Achile Mbembe cleverly puts it. The journey I myself went through moving from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Doha, Qatar and later on moving to the Northern European cities of Munich, Frankfurt am Main, Copenhagen, Berlin, and Malmö has turned the world as I knew it upside down: it changed the colour of my skin, as in Brazil I was perceived as a white person, while in Europe I became a person of colour. It also altered my gender, as before I used to identify as a gay male and now I am a non-binary individual. This eventually became the object of my artistic research practice: How can I raise questions about migrant life, my colonized ancestors, and the European societies in which I now live, and, in this this way, generate narratives that focus on contested histories, asymmetrical power relations and legacies of racism, colonization and displacement? (Bhatia 2011, p. 348). Within my work as an artist-researcher, I decided to adopt autoethnography as a methodology, with the intention offer a nuanced, complex, and specific knowledge about particular lives, experiences, and relationships (Adams, Jones, Ellis 2014). Within autoethnographical methodological tools, I focus on reflexivity with the aim of troubling the relationship between researchers ‘selves’ and ‘others’ and offering a re-examination of the paradigm of modernity/coloniality, as simultaneously shaped through specific articulations of race, gender, and sexuality (Lugones 2007). The final intention is to analyze how turning back to my ancestors and my own experiences, identities, and their socio-political implications; how analyzing them according to gender and queer theories and from an anticolonial perspective, can potentialize my current practice focused on autobiographical performance.  One last important point to be acknowledged is my role as an artist-researcher examining the complex ethical and creative processes of working with intimate family memories, observing the growing necessity of developing dramaturgies of care and resistance (Malzacher 2008)

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Gunnar Sandin, Lund University 

Department of Architecture and Built Enviroment

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

My practice spans from academic research activities to free artistic work. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

A sense of place can be both the starting- and endpoint in my investigations. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

The methods may include performance, collaborative narration and writing. An example follows below. 

Lund Irbid Parallel Walk

This architectural research project (Marwa al Khalidi and Gunnar Sandin) emanates from a performative dialogic art event, labelled Lund Irbid Parallel Walk connecting two geopolitical regions and cities: Lund in Sweden, and Irbid in Jordan. The geopolitical belongings of Lund and Irbid, representing a division between a global North and South, show interesting local complexities as regards ways of handling housing for newcomers, especially refugees, linked to the history of the two cities, and their neighboring relations on minor and major scales. In this project we point to the mechanisms of integration in the two cities, as regards how local border-formation appears in architectural and urban transformation. 

A multi-agentic performative search for urban stories

On 12th September, 2020, Gunnar Sandin and Marwa al Khalidi staged a synchronized walking and talking act, by inviting one friend each to participate in a dialogic event using a real-time video broadcast application (Zoom), connecting in real time Lund in the North of Europe (Sweden), with Irbid in the Middle East (Jordan). The walking act was announced at AURA art gallery in Lund as a performative connection of two geopolitical spheres.¹ The spots in each city chosen for the routes had been discussed by the performers beforehand. Certain key places, such as official governmental buildings, city kernels, and nearby places of varying social function, were chosen as informing the broadcasted dialogue. The two persons in Lund and the two in Irbid walked and talked for an hour in a convivial manner telling each other (and an on-line audience of approximately 20 persons) what they encountered along two routes. This temporal, verbal and peripatetic communication between four persons created a common narrative which pointed out urban and architectural relationships between the two cities, as well as bordering principles in each city, and as a result this walking act came to drive our attention towards the general social contrasts in the two cities. Ultimately, in a follow-up text, Al Khalidi and Sandin (2023) pointed out areas beyond the immediate routes taken, that completed the urban narrative including pointing out the local policies and architecture of the housing where newcomers settle.² 

References

¹ AURA Krognoshuset, ‘Lund-Irbid walk talk’, 2020, https://www.krognoshuset.se/aura/program/ Performed by Marwa al Khalidi, Gunnar Sandin, Aya Musmar and Kajsa Lawaczeck Körner. 

² Marwa Al Khalidi & Gunnar Sandin, 2023, Bordering Principles and Integration in Urban Context, in field: a free journal for architecture, Vol. 9 Issue 1, ‘Across Borders: Questions, Practices, Performances', Published by The University of Sheffield School of Architecture. 

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Burak Sayin, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

I am supporting people who would like to start a cultural or creative place by facilitating complex project management processes or connecting them to their peers across the globe. I am also researching placemaking for developing better city development policies in post-industrial settings.  We can develop better policies by exploring the motivations and emotions that emerge between place (i.e. urban built-in environment) and people (i.e. passion for creation) in post-industrial settings. Culture and creativity are the basis for the organic, fair-trade and ecological social fabric. With a little play, fun, and team activities, magic can happen in any neighbourhood. 

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Carina Sjöholm, Lund University 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

I feel most comfortable with this question as a researcher; it has been one of several common threads in my research over the decades. I have been interested in people's engagement, rootedness, and perception of participation in society through various practices where place is highlighted in different ways. 

For example, it has been about a tree planting project organized by the city of Helsingborg that we followed some years ago. In the course of the work, people's relationship with trees emerged as an increasingly interesting research area. Several individuals talked about the importance of places by sharing their experiences of planting trees as a way of making a mark. It became clear how the planted trees came to function as meeting places, but also how they came to be anchoring points for individuals' biographical stories. The stories came to reflect how people see and relate to history, but also how they want to influence and shape the writing of history.  

The same was true when I asked year-round archipelago residents how they experienced their life on an island without land connection. The special environment of an island made me think about different types of nature as well as what people do in and with nature. This focus on nature combined with a broad interpretation of the concept of place has followed me ever since. The sense of place was clearly expressed in a research project on villa gardeners. The villa garden is one of our society's most common and most overlooked cultural environments. What happens in the gardens between houses in ordinary residential areas? How do gardeners view the space they have access to just outside their doorstep? The book we wrote was titled 'An Outdoors of One's Own' to emphasize the tension between the private and the public. 

Another research project is about novels representing a particular place and a recognizable geography, which is important for readers and paves the way for film adaptations. The landscape then becomes part of the scene. Around Sweden, it has long been possible to follow in the footsteps of authors, but also in the footsteps of fictional characters, inspired by books or film adaptations. The opportunities have increased and there is a growing market for this kind of travel. But what happens to a place that is marketed through fiction? And what are the motives of the different players in this game? Who thinks in terms of marketing, and who thinks in terms of knowledge dissemination? Both arguments are often present in tourism initiatives, which are almost always designed to attract visitors. In this study, I emphasized the producers. In their organized form, these activities are part of something much larger, including an economic development where culture and economy have become increasingly integrated. This cannot be imagined without giving meaning to places. 

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Ilona Touchard, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle & LabEx ICCA  

How does your practice relate to placemaking?  

With a background in architecture, space is a core aspect of my practice and a driving force underpinning my research. I constantly look beyond the creation of space in architectural terms, by paying particular attention to practices, interactions, individuals and the creation of singular experiences. My research focuses on artistic and cultural dynamics in urban areas, as they involve specific experiences that re-enact and redefine urban atmospheres. Thus, my PhD project seeks to understand the relation between alternative cultural places and urban atmosphere over time.   

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?  

We never remain indifferent to our environment. With Natalia Bobadilla (Lecturer at Université Sorbonne Paris Nord), as part of the research project “The value of alternative cultural places: how can they contribute to local urban dynamics?”, we think that sense of place can be a material for research through the notion of atmosphere. This concept refers to the situated, constructed, material and social dimension of sensory experience in inhabited spaces (Thibaud, 2015). It allows us to grasp and understand the relationship between individuals and the world, the construction of identities in co-presence, the bodily dimension and posture issues, as well as mechanisms involved in the circulation of affects that shape micro-political dimensions of space (Masson, 2024). The study of the atmosphere implies a spatio-temporal approach in which the context of its emergence and evolution is a key dimension (Böhme, 1991).   

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?  

To investigate atmospheres, we use qualitative and ethnographic methods that involve observation of the space and its practices, as well as interviews to find out how users perceive the atmosphere. Multimedia tools are useful to inform about the components of the built environment and the sensory experiences of a space. I believe it is essential to study the evolution of urban atmospheres over time, as it provides insights into how our relationship with the world and the urban fabric is changing at a time when sustainability is becoming a major concern.  

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Devrim Umut Aslan, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

Every human activity 'takes place' in a 'place'. It occurs in a specific spatiotemporal position, within a particular sensomaterial environment. Even seemingly 'placeless' activities like thinking or dreaming happen in certain places, as do modern virtual interactions facilitated by digital technologies. Whether watching TV, imagining through art, listening to stories, or reading, we are always situated in and encompassed by places. Thus, ‘place’ has an essential role in the configuration and enactment of social practices, including consumption. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?

In my research on consumption practices, I intentionally emphasize the significance of 'place' or rather, 'places'. I aim to understand how consumers navigate various retail environments, including town centres, shopping malls, and online platforms. Moreover, I find it interesting to explore how consumers traverse different spatiotemporalities during consumption in a certain place, shifting between ‘now’ and 'then', as well as 'here' and 'there'. This happens, for instance, when shopping for goods from one’s hometown while being in a new country or receiving an 'old-school' repair service from an aged shoemaker. While doing these, consumers also become part of the composition of these places; they alter them while being in them simultaneously. These co-constitutive interrelations between humans and places make the notion of place even more interesting and crucial for social (and artistic) inquiry. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

To grasp (and capture) the intricate connections between places and consumption practices in situ, I often employ video ethnographic research methods. However, the essentiality of 'place' in social science research calls for methodological diversity. I believe this undermines any suggestion that certain methods are better suited for studying 'place' compared to others. 

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Philip Warkander, University of Borås 

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

Academically, I've been interested in the interrelations between physical spaces and small-scale retail. Also, the aesthetics of a place fascinates me – as someone who has thought a lot about the social and cultural dimensions of fashion, it's not a big step to also reflect on the effects of architecture on people.  

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

Recently, I began creating a magazine that will come out for times per year, focuisng on different forms of local culture and the unique aspects of particlar places that I like. The first issue, currently being printed, is dedicated to the Bay of Naples. And previously I wrote a book on Capri.  

 What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

Well, the magazine is created by me and my husband, who's a photographer, but for our second issue we're inviting other friends from the fashion industry to interpret places that they're fond of. And I really enjoy including conversations with architects, hoteliers, and local farmers who share their points of view and talk with me about the place where they are working.  

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Robert Willim, Lund University

Dept. Of Arts and Cultural Sciences

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

In my practices as a researcher within digital cultures and cultural analysis as well as an artist, I have approached placemaking through various engagements with site-specificity. I developed the concept Industrial Cool to explore how former industrial areas have been aestheticized. I have made several digital artworks that explore the site-specific and imaginaries about places. Recently, I have developed the concept Mundania to explore the interplay between new technologies and everyday life, between media and imaginaries. In this work, questions about place and what is present and absent in different contexts is crucial. 

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?

Sense of place entwines the site-specific with the imaginary and the affective. Through this entwinement there is huge potential for both art and research. This is something I have explored in several of my works, such as ”Possible Worlds”, ”In Praise of Other Places”, ”Selkonen”, ”Almost There” etc. Through the links below, you will find more info about these works.  

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

I use a method called probing to engage people in different contexts. Probing is a way to take concepts (such as Industrial Cool or Mundania) as point of departure in iterative processes of art, research, and collaboration.  

References

A site that describes the Mundania-concept. It circulates around the book ”Mundania - How and Where Technologies are Made Ordinary” 2024). See the following link.

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Sima Wolgast, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking?

My artistic practice intertwines with the concept of placemaking by delving into the dynamic landscapes of diaspora. Through photography and text, I aim to capture the deep connections between people, memories, and experiences that transcend geographical and cultural boundaries. By focusing on the experiences of the Iranian diaspora in Sweden, I'm not just documenting physical spaces but also the emotional and psychological landscapes that individuals inhabit within those spaces. The combination of imagery, film and narrative serves to construct a sense of place that is rich with personal and collective stories, contributing to the cultural fabric of the community. 

How is it possible to use a sense of place as material and a starting point for research and/or artistic work?

A sense of place serves as both material and inspiration for my artistic exploration. I seek to reflect on the essence of diaspora and human experience within specific geographical contexts. By a combination of photography, film and text, I aim to amplify and reinterpret these experiences, using intermediality as a tool to deepen our understanding of identity and belonging in a globalized world. Through the synthesis of human expression and intermedality, I transform the sense of place into a dynamic canvas for exploration and reflection. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?

In my artistic process, co-creation and relationship-building are essential components. I engage with individuals within the Iranian diaspora community in Sweden, listening to their stories, memories, and lived experiences. Through conversations and reflections, I collaboratively shape the narrative that accompanies my photographs, allowing for a multiplicity of voices to emerge. Additionally, I further expand the dialogue by analyzing and transforming these conversations into visual representations that complement the imagery. This collaborative approach not only fosters a deeper connection with the community but also invites viewers to engage with the artwork on a personal and empathetic level, fostering a sense of shared understanding and solidarity. 

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Daria Zvereva, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking? 

While working on the student project, Brandstationen placemaking was central to our analysis, reflection and further solutions. From the perspective of creative entrepreneurship development, we tried to understand how the top-down and bottom-up approaches can work together to make Brandstationen a viable, attractive and inclusive place for residents and citizens.  

How is it possible to use a sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work? 

In our project, the sense of Brandstationen, or as we called it, "a sole of the place", was one of the fundamental ideas for our solutions. As we thought, in Brandstationen the symbolic and social aspects are particularly important, as they unfold the value of the place for the residents and the local community, who make sense of it as a creative, inspiring, open and welcoming area. 

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place? 

As we understood throughout our student project, co-creation was initially chosen as a way of placemaking for Brandstationen. We also highlighted co-creation, collaboration, negotiation, fostering a sense of community and exchanging ideas as underlying principles of our solutions. In relation to Brandstationen placemaking, we proposed an informal governance model as a basis for collaborative leadership and a horizontal distribution of power, preserving the value of inclusivity emphasized in Brandstations. 

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Charlotte Østergaard, Lund University

How does your practice relate to placemaking?  

In my research and in my practice as costume designer and textile artist placemaking are material-discourse encounters and/or entanglements where we co-creatively explore how materials affects and informs our bodies.  

How is it possible to use sense of place as material and starting point for research and/or artistic work?  

For example, in the artistic project Community Walk (the 15^th Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, 2023) the material or the costume (crafted to connect two people’s bodies) were the place where we started. Through and with the material that connected our bodies we co-creatively navigate and negotiate the places or the public space that we travelled or walked through.  

What methods do you use for co-creation and relationship building in relation to place?  

As researcher, "hosting with open-minded hospitality" is the method that I use. This implies that when I invite guests (participants in artistic projects and in research) into our shared material-discursive explorative place or space I encourage them to contribute with actions or intra-actions that makes sense to them. As host my curiosity is orientated towards the guest's contributions - whether they initiate encounters and/or entanglements with other people and/or nature/urban elements that we meet or something other that I cannot predict. As host I am accountable for the material-discursive place (that I invite my guest into) at the same time I am willing to let go of directing or controlling the place – for example by planning and/or judging which kind of encounters and/or entanglement we must explore.  As host, a am hospital towards that my guest most likely are orientated in other ways than I am. Thus, the encounters between our different orientating (for example the different encounters that we initiate) become openings that are crucial for how and what we co-create.