Exploring our inventiveness by taking interactive tours of artistic and cultural hubs in East Skåne.
Protopia looks at ways artists and creatives in East Skåne live and produce their work, frequently through unconventional means that speak to future modes of living. This is an experience that might benefit everyone, not just artists.
This is the 4th Triennal set in South Sweden under the Kulturföreningen Triennal. The previous Triennals were art exhibitions comprising 20-40 local and international artists. This Triennal is completely different, as it includes not only local artists but also creatives and inventors. The Triennal Forening now becomes an organization that links all these originators together in a continuing dialog.
There are already 30 artists and creatives who want to take part. We have the support of Ystad Konstmuseum, Sjöbo Konsthall, Tomelilla Konsthall and Northern Exposure/Kåseholm Slott, and are talking to other non-profit institutions.
(above, example) Gunnel Pettersson & Momiyama have shared facilities for decades. Gunnel creates work around the ancient cultural and social cultivation of buckwheat. Momiyama works with worn, patched garments using the old Japanese mending technique sashiko in a contemporary way.
“Over the decade I have been here, I have met numerous artists and creatives in the landscape, all of whom have amazing ways to live, work and create. It struck me that these ways of living are exactly what the general public would find inspiring. That these lives are a model for a future of society. A protopia…”
Marek Walczak
(above, example) Gylleboverket create social sculpture in a former scrapyard. They use the impromptu spaces of the yard for installations, movies, workshops, kitchen, permaculture, performances…
We start our new direction with a Protopia Bus Tour. These ‘tours’ would take place June, July and August of 2025, often on weekends. They would start at a local cultural center and visit about 3 locations per tour. Each location is either an artist, creative or inventor. To get a ticket, the traveler fills in a form, which includes an idea of their future protopia.…
As we visit each place, we develop a dialog with the traveler. The Tour Guide develops the narrative that connects the stops on the bus tour. This narrative includes the traveler’s, and their active participation in their future. The ‘stops’ are not a tour by an artist of their studio, but rather each stop involves the traveler in the artist and creative’s work. Whether picking potatoes at a farm and discussing the art of farming, or designing with a ceramicist the forms for a meal at a restaurant – the traveler immerses themselves in a potential future.
These experiences will be collected on a website using a semantic algorithm that shows the relationships of the various futures to each other, creating a map of possibilities that will become a book ‘An artist handbook’.
Triennal is a cultural event previously held every three years in the south of Sweden. Each Triennal featured a completely different format, sometimes including installations, performances and events. The first two iterations were in Kulturmöllan in Lövestad, a small village in Skåne, the third event took place in an open field in suburban Malmö. Previous exhibitions include:
Agrikultura
Instrument
Shadow & Light
In 2024 we’ve re-organized our organization. Our desire has always been to showcase the work of artists in the Skane countryside. We are opening this up to also include inventors and other creatives, establishing a networked organization that meets twice a year with workshops, looking at the amazing ways people here live their lives. Every 3 years we will hold a more public event to attract outsides and others to participate in our lively world.
Contact us: marek@triennal.se
Quotes on the meaning of Protopia:
Protopia is a state that is better today than yesterday, although it might be only a little better.