From levandehistoria.se:

In 2010, the Living History Forum conducted a survey of young people's attitudes towards vulnerable groups in Sweden; Roma, Muslims, Jews, extra-European refugees, and homosexuals. In the autumn of 2010, the survey was compiled in the report The many faces of intolerance.

The artists Jon Brunberg, Andrea Hvistendahl and Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin have read The many faces of intolerance, and used the report as their inspiration and starting point for the installations and artworks of the exhibition.

The results raise questions about intolerance throughout history, in our own time and from a psychological perspective.

Now, the Living History Forum wants to give young people the opportunity to leave their own imprints, through discussion and reflection on issues that concern tolerance and intolerance.

Read more
[[55##p||Tolerate - a video, anthology and web tool]]
P.C.-an exhibition about intolerance

Participants:
Tomas Böhm
Liria Ortiz
Fred Saboonchi

Links:
More information about the exhibition
Tolerate - the web tool

Produced for the group exhibiion P.C. - an exhibition about intolerance
Commissioned by The Living History Forum
Venue: The Living History Forum, Stora Nygatan 10-12, Stockholm
Open: September 15, 2011 - December 2012, Mo-Fri noon to 5pm

Tolerate is a project that comprises several works wherein I'm examining tolerance and intolerance from a psychological point of view. My premise in this work is that, if we seek a more profound democracy, a greater respect for human rights and a lessening of human suffering and oppression, we will need a more tolerant society.

I've invited the psychoanalyst Tomas Böhm and the psychologists Liria Ortiz and Fred Saboonchi to participate in two works, wherein they explain their views on tolerance and intolerance, and present psychological tools or methods that can be used by those who wish to become more tolerant, or who are in need of arguments or inspiration in their work against intolerance. They appear in a video and will write a chapter each for an anthology that will be released in february 2012.

Tolerera was commissioned by The Living History Forum in Stockholm for the group exhibition P.C. - an exhibition about intolerance. The primary target group for the exhibition are students in the ages 16 to 19 years, who will view and interact with the works together with pedagogues in a workshop that lasts approximately two hours. The venue is open for regular visitors. The primary target group for the anthology are college teachers and the general public.

The exhibition also includes a third work in the series: a website where you can measure if your tolerance matches how tolerant you want to be. It should be noted that Böhm, Ortiz and Saboonchi don't participate in this particular work even though their work been a great inspiration.

About the participants:
Tomas Böhm is a certified psychoanalyst, certified psychoterapist, specialist in general psychiatry and author. Liria Ortiz is a certified psychologist, certified psychoterapist and a supervisor specialising in CBT, as well as being a training consultant, lecturer and author. Fred Saboonchi has a PhD in psychology, and is a lecturer and researcher at Sophiahemmet University College, Karolinska Insitutet and Stockholm University.

Participants' home page:
Tomas Böhm
Liria Ortiz
Fred Saboonchi

Links:
More information about the exhibition
Tolerate - the web tool

Press text: The Utopian World Championship at the Knot

The Utopian World Championship (UWC) is an attempt to shed light on the status of contemporary utopian thinking by awarding the best essay in an open, global competition in utopian thinking and writing, and by publishing the essays submitted by the participants.

The Utopian World Championship was first launched in March 2001, and has since been arranged twice and awarded a first prize of 1000 Euro to two champions, who have been invited to Stockholm to receive their prize at a gala night. The first awarded essay was written by the psuedonym T.R.O.Y., an American student and activist living in Sweden, and the second by the Professor Emeritus in anthropology, Mr Cyril Belshaw from Canada. Their essays have been printed and distributed to Heads of State, governments, NGO:s and other institutions all over the world. All participating essays are available at the website http://utopianwc.com. The website is also the place where contestants sign up for participation and post their entries. The Utopian World Championship was initiated by SOC.Stockholm and is managed by the artists Jon Brunberg and Annika Drougge since 2006.

Jon Brunberg will present the project in several ways at the Knot in Warsaw, Ursynów. There will be daily, public, readings from the participating essays and seminars with the Knot's inhabitants. In a concluding, public event, on the 3d of July, the third Utopian World Championship will be officially announced, and the website open for registration of participants. The two hitherto awarded essays in the revised edition of 2009 will be available at the Knot. The championship aims to promote the idea about the good society (eu-topos) at all levels of society, and the edition is an important part of that work. A part of it is earmarked for Heads of State all over the world, including the Acting President of Poland, to whom copies will be delivered during the week.

Photos from the installation at Kopa Cwila and the announcement and opening ceremony on July 3, 2010 (the latter were taken by Joanna Erbel).

When the leaders of Saudi-Arabia and Iraq decided to change a buffer zone between their countries into a permanent border in 1981 they somehow forgot to notify the UN, and thus the world, with the result that few even knew that the change had occurred. In 1992, after Saddam Hussein had been thrown out of Kuwait the "blunder" was corrected.

I found this little anecdote from the world of borders, that I stumbled upon during the research for 124 years, to be quite illuminating. You would think that national borders are facts that are thoroughly documented, but often they are inexact, neglected, disputed or recognized only by the few.

Even worse. Borders can be handled with arbitrarity and recklessness in a way that affects peoples and communities for a long time. The Berlin Conference of 1884-85 is one abhorrent example. When the colonial powers of Europe decided to split the riches of Africa among themselves they used rulers to divide the enormous continent into spheres of interest. Straight lines through deserts, savannahs and forests. Straight lines trough existing kingdoms, nations and other political entities. The conference was the beginning of the scramble for Africa. Twenty years later, only two independent countries remained on the whole continent.

The Berlin Conference is the starting point for my animation 124 years, which shows all border changes from 1884 until the year 2008. It describes, in a sense, a cycle that starts and ends in the Balkans. It describes the dissolution of empires, the many phases of the Arab-Israeli conflict and many other events. All these changes flickers by in merely five seconds. This rapidness promotes overview rather than a focus on details, while the patterns that are created forms a narrative about the historical events that these changes represent.

It should be noted that this animation is an incomplete and inexact study, or a sketch, for a bigger work that will, eventually, include the whole world. This version zooms in on a rectangle with the Balkans, Caucasus, Iran and Libya in its four corners, and with the region that has been the focus of the Documentalities course in the middle.

By Jon Brunberg 2010

25.2 Thursday at 6-8 pm Opening and conversation
At 6.15 pm Jon Brunberg presents 19 years + one tool for measuring power in a conversation with Catrin Lundqvist, curator, Moderna Museet and the public.

Jon Brunberg's art revolves around individual, collective and political power. He uses digital media to produce video sequences and internet-based systems and images. 19 years shows collective manifestations from 1989 to 2007, as dots on a world map, in 30 seconds.

The starting point of the art work coincides with the year when the Berlin Wall fell. Early that year, the Moslem world was shaken by Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, which caused widespread protests in many countries, including India and Pakistan, and in the early summer the Tiananmen Square in Beijing was the centre of the world's attention. At a fast pace, 19 years presents one-day events in which thousands of people have participated in protest actions that were intended to be peaceful, although some of them escalated into riots or even led to coups d'état.

The Gothenburg Riots of 2001 are, of course, featured, along with the enormous demonstrations that took place on February 15, 2003, when the West was preparing to invade Iraq. The whole world protested on an unprecedented scale against the war plans, but to no avail. It may seem as though some of the events have gone unnoticed, although they were significant on a local level, for example when China put the lid on after the massacre at Tiananmen Square. Although peaceful manifestations resumed after some time, few details reached the world and were rarely reported in the press, which has been Jon Brunberg's main source. If you wish to learn more about his research methods and definitions, visit www.jonbrunberg.com/19y/

The Power Tool is an internet-based art work that offers you the possibility to measure your individual power. The piece is process-based and in continuous progress. Jon Brunberg has sharpened the tool for this exhibition, for its visitors, and their decisions regarding their own power. What is power? How powerful are you? With the power tool you can measure and analyse your power and compare your ranking with other users. Issues of individual power are a relatively new phenomenon, connected to ideas about individuality versus collectivity that are representative of our time. Who decides who has power? Can power be quantified? Metaphysical issues emerge as you start to answer the tool's questionnaire.

Visit powerinstruments.net 

Text by Catrin Lundqvist

Read more about the Utopian World Championship

The exhibition Loss presents The Polynational War Memorial for the first time to the public in full scale. The master plan that outlines the various institutions and the memorial in the architectonic proposal that will complete the first phase of the project has been adapted to the park at Wanås.

A map over the park, which includes the master plan, suggests a walk trough the landscape/complex. On five spots along the walk you'll find panels with 3D-renderings and photo montages that show the architecture as it would appear if the complex would be built at the site. Guided tours by the artist will be held in the landscape/complex on several occasions during the exhibition period.

The adaption of the master plan does not imply that Wanås is suggested as one of the six sites where the complex should be built. It is rather an attempt to merge an existing landscape with the proposed architecture, and thus an opportunity to experience the complex in full scale.

The video The Polynational War Memorial, part 3: the Interfaith Centre is shown in the gallery during the exhibition period.

Participating artists are: Lida Abdul, Christian Boltanski, Jon Brunberg, Matthew Buckingham, Ann Böttcher, Sophie Calle, Mona Hatoum, Emily Jacir, Regina José Galindo, Alejandra Lundén, Deimantas Narkevicius, Zoran Naskovski, Emily Prince, Fernando Sánchez Castillo, Esther Shalev-Gerz, Sissel Tolaas and Kara Walker.

Curators: Elna Svenle and Marika Wachtmeister.

A catalogue is available.

More information about Loss at wanas.se>
[[6||The Polynational War Memorial > ]]
[[36||Part 3: the Interfaith Centre >]]

Art and nature at your service at the Swedish Museum of Natural History
On the 11^th of April the exhibition Changing Matters – The Resilience Art Exhibition opens at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm.

Changing Matters – the Resilience Art Exhibition is an art exhibition about the interplay between man and nature, about life in change. It is shown in addition to the international conference Resilience, Adaption and Transformation in Turbulent Times which for four days gathers some of the most prominent scientists, business leaders and politicians in the world in Aula Magna at Stockholm University, the 14^th to 17^th of April 2008. This summit will discuss ecology, economy and society using a resilience perspective, where man and nature will be studied as an integrated whole.

A jury with respected representatives from the art scene and scientists has chosen 12 artists artists/artists groups among the in total 220 proposals that were sent in on the resilience theme.

Among the chosen artists are Gunilla Bandolin and Sverker Sörlin (Sweden), who together have created a sculpture in the shape of a full size car using animal intestine as material; influenced by working methods of the Inuits and their way of using the resources of the nature; Tuula Närhinen (Finland) who will create an installation using floating pieces of plastic she has found near the sea; the Centre of Attention (France/United Kingdom) who put the attention on all ideas about the conventional art object and Christine Ödlund (Sweden) who, in collaboration with KTH, “translates” the chemical substances different plants sends out, when being attacked or stressed, to sound.

Changing Matters – the Resilience Art Exhibition is an initiative from Carl Folke, head of science at Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University and Olle Granath, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy of Fine Arts. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Swedish Academy of Fine Arts and the Royal University College of Fine Arts through Mejan Labs and the Royal Academy of Science through the Beijer Institute and the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University.

Resilience
Resilience is an interdisciplinary perspective on environment and development that distinguishes from other environmental research since man and nature is studied as an integrated whole. The concept has its origin in the research made in ecology science made in USA and Canada in the 1980’s and defines a system’s ability to withstand both sudden gradual change and still advance further. Concurrently with the progresses of the environmental research the resilience concept today includes economical as well as social and cultural dimensions, systems that in different ways branch off and is attached to the ecological reality that surrounds us.

Exhibition facts
Changing Matters – The Resilience Art Exhibition
Place: the Swedish Museum of Nature History
Date: 12 April – 7 September 2008

Participating artists
Gunilla Bandolin and Sverker Sörlin (Sweden); Jon Brunberg (Sweden); Center of Attention (France/UK); Olle Cornéer and Martin Lübcke (Sweden); Todd Gilens (USA); Paul Matosic (UK); Teemu Mäki (Finland); Tuula Närhinen (Finland); Michael Rodemer (USA); Etta Säfve (Sweden); Angelo Vermeulen (Belgium); Christine Ödlund (Sweden).

Jury

Olle Granath, Carl Folke, Charlotte Gyllenhammar, artist, Peter Hagdahl, professor at the Royal University College of Fine Arts and director of Mejan Labs, Johan Scott, artist, Buzz Hollings, professor emeritus at University of Florida and one of the founders of the resilience concept and Frances Westley, professor of Strategy and Executive Director of the McGill-McConnell Program for National Voluntary Sector Leaders, McGill University, Montreal.

For further information contact: Frida Cornell, e-post: frida.cornell@mejanlabs.se +46 (0)70 369 15 29

19 years + one tool for measuring power
Moderna Museet, Stockholm. February 25 - March 21, 2010.

Changing Matters-The Resilience Art Exhibition
Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet in Stockholm, April 12 - Sept. 7, 2008.

'19 years' was produced for the exhibition 'Changing Matters' at the Museum of Nature History in Stockholm in 2008. It displays over 1800 events in more than 500 places, in chronological order, from 1989 to 2007, on a black and white political map. These events were popular mass-protests, such as demonstrations or rallies, where several thousands of people took to the streets in protest.

'19 years' is a Flash application, in which the animation is created programmatically on-the-fly with actionscript and xml, which means that it can easily be updated with new events. The Flash application is also used when the work is exhibited.

The data was collected from the internet, predominantly from news websites, and most notably from the New York Times' online archive. The database is available at jonbrunberg.com/19years, where you'll also find notes on my definitions, links to the sources and texts about the work.

The animation was programmed by Marc Bjersbo Asp.
19 Years is dedicated to my father, Ivar Brunberg.

LINKS
Special site for '19 Years' with animation preview
[[38##p||More about Changing Matters]]
[[51##p||More about 19 years + one tool for measuring power]]
19 Years database and info
Press release at Mejanlab's website 

PRESS
Svenska Dagbladet
Expressen
Utställningsestetiskt forum
Konsten.net
TT-spectra/Sundsvalls tidning

The current video describes the Interfaith Centre, which was designed by Anders Johansson and Erik Winquist at Testbedstudio. The video includes a soundtrack by composer Fred Saboonchi and voice by Lisette Merenciana. The Polynational War Memorial project is funded with a project grant from The Swedish Arts Grants Committee.

A memorial and a city is shown in the lobby at Clarion Hotel during the periods Jan 15-20, Jan 23 - Feb 5 and Feb 10-15 (schedule may be subject to change). The exhibition also includes the work "WARTOPIA I, Berlin 518, Moscow 1122" by polish artist Aleksandra Polisiewicz. Curator is CRAC/Tobias Sjödin.

[[6||The Polynational War Memorial >]]
Press: Milou Allerholm in Dagens Nyheter>