Art & Industry

The Art & Industry programme at Vandalorum invites art colleges to collaborate with industry in Småland. The programme focuses on exchanging perspectives and approaches through critical investigations of materials, processes and products.

Work/Place is a process initiated by the Art & Industry programme at Vandalorum, where students from the Royal Institute of Art, during the spring of 2024 collaborated with industries in Värnamo. Together they have experimented with materials and approaches, form and function, and at the same time gained an insight into each other's views and conditions.

Art and industry have had a long and complex relationship, sometimes enthusiastic, sometimes problematic. From opportunism, where art becomes a way of generating cultural capital for companies, the industry only means economic resources for art, there are also the possibilities for other processes. Processes where techniques and encounters between different skills are fruitful and create social and artistic values.

The title Work/Place emphasises the processual and tangible approach we have focused on. What is generated when we share a place without necessarily sharing a goal and what can we learn from that encounter? How do art students' work processes change when they test different techniques and spaces than what we usually see in art schools?

Participating students:
Silja Beck, Viktor Berglind Ekman, Kristina Nenzén, Hedvig Wijkström, Annie Åkerman

Participating industries:
DS Smith, Microponent, Mandus Wire

The Art and Industry programme at Vandalorum is led by artist Oscar Guermouche and is carried out in collaboration with and supported by The Hamrin Foundation.

Thanks to: Royal Institute of Art, DS Smith, Mikroponent, Mandus Wire, Swedish Arts Council, Region Jönköping County, Värnamo Municipality, Vandalorum Partners: Hamrin, Liljedahl & Svenstig