Content | Exhibition | Calendar
| Participants | Links
The exhibition consists of works of art that comment on the democratic system in various ways. The works included deal with matters such as the role of the media and the significance of lobbying and PR on the politics of the day. The fundamentals of democracy and our ability to discuss matters are other aspects that are treated. The forms of discussion can change and there are other rules that might well be questioned; like how elections are organized. Democracy is a utopia and we must not forget that it has yet to be realized. Everyone can propose improvements.
The Average Citizen
Produced by Måns Wrange in collaboration with Igor Isaksson ”The average citizen” also deals with PR and lobbying and is in itself an attempt to bring renewal to representative democracy. With the help of Sweden’s Office of Statistics Måns Wrange has created a statistical profile on the average Swedish citizen. She is called Marianne and the long-term aim of the project is, by means of lobbying, to try to spread her opinions about how to create a better society. www.averagecitizen.org
Read more about the average Citozen.
Utopia World Championship
You are invited to take part in the Utopia World Championship to bring new life to the ancient discussion as to how human life can be better organized. The exhibition displays the results of the 2001 world championship and last year’s winner, T.R.O.Y., will give a public lecture on 30 August at 6 pm.
The competition is played out on www.soc.nu/utopian
The Public Opinion
What does public opinion really mean and what does it look like? Karin Hansson and Åsa Andersson-Broms have questioned a succession of people from the world of information. Lobbyists, PR consultants and media scholars give their opinions in this video.
Ted - the ultimate communications solution
The exhibition deals with various aspects of representative democracy and how this changes. Ted - the ultimate communications solution by Karin Hansson and Åsa Andersson-Broms deals with how political opinion is influenced by the media. Ted is a person who has been trained by a staff of PR experts and who is available to anyone who can afford him. He always has a calm and highly plausible answer and deals politely with even the most strident journalist.
Election Laboratory
The group of artists known as WochenKlausur has been invited to comment on Swedish democracy. This will take place on site during the course of the exhibition. An extensive investigation of the current electoral system forms the foundation of this experiment which will consist of a type of inverted electoral procedure in which, for example, the people participating vote to eject their representatives rather than voting them into power.
Junction
Junction is a concrete attempt at strengthening local democracy by creating a venue for conversations. By means of a number of junctions, invited guests have an opportunity to meet for discussion and work. Junction is a society with its headquarters in the province of Östergötland and the operations will be run throughout the region. The aim is to create a new, democratic forum by building up an informal and non-hierarchical network for people from different walks of life: artists, people working for the municipality, business people, politicians and the general public. The exhibition documents the activities.
Call Ingmar
Ingmar is an interactive telephone voice that will answer questions from the public on politics and other matters. There have been previous opportunities of talking with Ingmar about money (Kulturhuset), art (Liljevalchs Konsthall) and about the cinema (Filminstitutet). Thanks to Rolf Lindgren, Presector AB (www.presector.com) and Bengt.E.Waernulf, Telia Infovox.
The Castle
What do we have in common in society today? What do the building blocks really consist of? Karin Hansson and Åsa Andersson-Broms let visitors take charge of building the castle. Blocks in nine different colours represent nine different socio-economic groups. The population of Sweden reduced to statistics in beautiful colours.
PerformancesDuring the period of the exhibition there will be a succession of performances by Stockholm Surveillance Camera Players and Kalliope.