Inauguration and activation of FOLKMAKT

During the Luleå Biennial’s opening event, Friday 1 March in Kiruna, citizens are invited to gather for speeches by Jenny Nordmark and Karin Stöckel. We will activate FOLKMAKT on Friday, March 1st from 13.00 – 14.30 on Stadshustorget in Kiruna.

Welcome!

About FOLKMAKT

FOLKMAKT is a new public artwork by Jenny Nordmark, comissioned and produced by the Luleå Biennial 2024.

FOLKMAKT is a site-specific installation designed for Kiruna's new civic square, incorporating 12 doors collected from Kiruna’s initial City Hall, demolished in 2019. As a local historic landmark designed by architect Artur Von Schmalensee and opened in 1963, Kiruna’s City Hall named Igloo was affectionately referred to as Kiruna’s "living room." The Igloo’s doors carry symbolic importance, since they were the threshold between the spaces of the authorities in power and the main central hall, open to all citizens. Thus, underscoring the architect's ambition to establish a direct link between citizens and those in power. The central hall hosted exhibitions, parties, events, and rallies, including the significant Swedish miners’ strike of 1969–70, which paved the way for LAS, a law regulating employment conditions in Sweden. In 2001, the Igloo was designated a local historic landmark, but it was demolished due to the ongoing relocation of Kiruna’s city eastwards, despite a study indicating the feasibility of dismantling and reconstructing certain parts of the building.

FOLKMAKT is installed beside Kiruna’s new city hall called Kristallen, The Crystal, designed by Henning Larsen Architects and opened in 2018. Referencing the historical Igloo, Kristallen incorporates its iconic bell tower, original door handles, as well as selected materials, building components and art collection. FOLKMAKT’s doors are positioned beside this tower, forming a square shape reminiscent of the Igloo’s central hall, and fixed on prefabricated elements commonly found in construction sites throughout Kiruna.

The artist adds another layer to the installation by gathering images of doors from citizens’ houses in Kiruna and painting them onto the installation’s doors, drawing inspiration from trompe l'œil techniques and decorative painting used in scenography. The act of painting the doors outside during the exhibition becomes a catalyst for conversations with passers-by.

About Jenny Nordmark

Jenny Nordmark (b. 1980, Kalix, Sweden) lives and works in Stockholm. Nordmark expresses her work through art, architecture and scenography, to explore issues connected to environmentalism and climate, the local and the global, and the meanings and consequences of human’s exploitation of nature’s resources.

Händelsernas Centrum

The work is part of the project Händelsernas Centrum, a project which creates art experiences that contribute concrete examples of how culture and art affect our living environments, experiences of places and our mood in ongoing and imminent changes.

Supported by

Händelsernas Centrum is co-funded by the European Union and carried out with support from the Swedish Board of Agriculture, and Leader Tornedalen 2030, LKAB and Kiruna kommun.

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