Den som sover and Mjukhetens artefakter at the Night Festival in Korpilombolo 

The night, dreams and sleep are at the centre when the Public Art Agency, together with Kin Museum of Contemporary Art and the Night Festival in Korpilombolo, produces art in public spaces. Here the forgotten history of Tornedalen is made visible, and here dreams of a place that is a little softer, a little slower are woven.

Den som sover (The Sleeper) is a collaborative project between the Public Art Agency, Kin Museum of Contemporary Art in Kiruna and the Night Festival in Korpilombolo, where works by eight artists are shown in a joint exhibition. The title is inspired by the artist duo Karin Keisu and Josse Thuresson’s work from 2024, Who is the Sleeper?, which is based on Selma Lagerlöf’s novel The Wonderful Adventures of Nils.

In the story, Nils Holgersson and the goose Akka travel throughout the country, but Tornedalen is not mentioned. Instead, a dream is depicted in which Nils dreams of how he, together with plants and animals, marches from southern Sweden to fight against the terrifying Ice Witch in the north.

Den som sover takes its starting point from the story but connects to Tornedalen and its history in other ways as well. The project also highlights the Night Festival’s theme and interest in the night – a theme taken from a story about León de Greiff’s literary character Gaspar of the Night, who sought – and found – tranquility in the quiet expanses of Korpilombolo.

The exhibition brings together various artistic expressions that move between video, co-creative embroidery, literature and conversations, with storytelling as a common thread. Important points of contact are nature and society, dreams and imagination, landscape and language – and how one becomes visible or invisible in large and small narratives. In Den som sover, darkness becomes a vessel that lives and listens. Sleep is not rest, but a passage.

The exhibition includes: Karin Keisu & Josse Thuresson, Anila Rubiku, Lena Ylipää and Eleonora Edreva.

The project includes both new works and proposals that are developed, adapted and changed in line with the different places and the conditions of the context.

Mjukhetens artefakter

The Public Art Agency is also producing the work Mjukhetens artefakter (Artefacts of Softness) in a collaboration between the stage poet Josefin Sïlan Karlsson and the textile artist Ida Isak Westerberg in Korpilombolo. Here, Softness is a mythical place that has fallen into oblivion but can be rebuilt with the help of found artifacts.

During the Night Festival, the artists invite you to a woven installation and a performance in the form of ballads and poetry readings. The artists want to reconstruct a den as a place for rest, recovery and dreams. A place where everything goes a little slower and is a little softer. Den som sover and Mjukhetens artefakter together become a tribute to the night as a place for active becoming – where the forbidden can once again begin to raise its voice in the world of dreams.

Art throughout Sweden

The Public Art Agency has the mission to work with art and support art throughout Sweden, in smaller municipalities and communities in sparsely populated areas. Through temporary projects, the Public Art Agency offers opportunities for artistic exploration of different contexts and social issues, and creates new collaborations with different actors around the country. Den som sover is a collaboration between the Public Art Agency and Kin Museum of Contemporary Art in Kiruna, where Kin takes on the role of partner as well as producer, both for the project and the Korpilombolo Night Festival – organised by the Korpilombolo Cultural Association with the Nylund sisters for 20 years.

In addition to Den som sover and Mjukhetens artefakter, a number of other collaborations will also be created between the Public Art Agency, Kin Museum of Contemporary Art and municipal actors in Pajala and Kiruna.