Residence Botkyrka

Art as a catalyst in the social structure

In Botkyrka art is used as a catalyst in the social structure. Residence Botkyrka is a studio program for internationally active artists, architects and curators. Here different skills and experiences come together and develop at the intersection of artistic work, research, educational work, social and urban planning.

 

Botkyrka is part of Greater Stockholm and is one of Sweden’s most international municipalities with people from about eighty different countries speaking more than hundred languages.

 

Residence Botkyrka promotes site-specific, context-based art exploring the possibilities of art to influence a place and its identity. Residence Botkyrka works in public spaces and supports projects that are difficult to implement without a prolonged stay. Residence Botkyrka is also interested in the issues of co-creation and how the interaction between people can contribute to social change.

 

Residence Botkyrka is run by Botkyrka konsthall and is a collaboration between the Department of Culture and Leisure, the Department of Urban Planning, the housing company Botkyrkabyggen, and the Multicultural Centre, a center with national mandate for migration research, in the municipality of Botkyrka. This cooperation enables different people, such as urban planners and researchers, to contribute with knowledge and networks to the visiting grant holders.

 

 

 

 

Botkyrka has adopted an extension of the so called “one percent rule”, where artists are offered the opportunity of a public commission to work within the municipal street and park design and wastewater treatment. Within the framework of Residence Botkyrka, artists are invited at an early idea- and planning stage of the development process.

Botkyrka municipality aims to promote a sustainable community development, ecological, social and economic. This also permeates Residence Botkyrka.

 

The studio program started in 2010 and we are regularly inviting artists, architects, curators, critics and others who are interested in Residence Botkyrka. The length of stay varies between one and three months. It is also possible to come back for a follow-up stay.

 

The studio and the accommodation are separated. The accomodation apartment is situated in Fittja in one of Botkyrkabyggen’s buildings. It has room for 1-2 visiting grant holders. The studio is located at the Multicultural Centre in Fittja which houses a library, a lunch restaurant and a research staff.