For the neighborhood

The WALLSTREET Stockholm festival is a movement and an outdoor art exhibition in our common urban space in June 2022. Through the creation of 222 works of art with a variety of expressions, the festival contributes to the Stockholm region’s attractiveness and recovery after the pandemic. WALLSTREET Stockholm leads the way for the meaning and place of art and culture in a changing urban environment.

The years 2020 and 2021 have already been written into history as a time of difficult trials. Above all, the city has been challenged – in its everyday life, but also as a phenomenon and idea.

As it was activities within and close to art and culture that were particularly exposed, it became clear how important art and culture are to the city’s soul, its interplay and attractiveness. Therefore, it is important that art and culture are the battering ram that starts up the city again.

• Municipalities in the Stockholm region – Nacka, Stockholm, Upplands-Bro
• Private companies in the Stockholm region – mostly property owners and property developers
• Interest organizations, such as Fastighetsägarna and Visit Stockholm
• Academy and school, eg Kulturskolan Stockholm and Södertörn University

The WALLSTREET Stockholm festival is organized by the independent politically neutral non-profit organization “Storstockholm Konst & Arkitektur” (Stockholmregion Art & Architecture) which is based in Stockholm. The purpose of the association is to conduct activities that strengthen and support a positive urban and community development of public places outdoors in the Stockholm region. The focus is about participation, co-creation, art, culture and architecture as resources for increased pace of innovation and sustainability.

The association’s members consist of an association of municipalities in the Stockholm region as well as some interest organizations.

WALLSTREET is a global concept for art exhibitions in our common urban spaces. WALLSTREET is created to be applied in different places around the world.

We have chosen not to have a specific theme. However, we encourage participating artists to take into account the spirit of the place as input in the work. The world at large right now has several highly topical inevitable themes we all have to deal with, such as the climate crisis, the pandemic and Agenda 2030. We believe that this is more than enough as a starting point for artists with the freedom to interpret, shape and contribute.

Neighborhood means all those who live and work in a specific geographical area. Neighborhood includes both residential individuals and the local businesses and organizations located in the area. The local anchoring and contact with those who live and work on the site is of great importance for sustainable development.

Those who live and work in a place knows it the best. No outside planner can surpass the locally based knowledge of which places and streets feel unsafe, ugly, dead, dark or boring. WALLSTREET Stockholm collaborates where possible with local associations and networks, where neighbors can act as ambassadors for their own living area.

WALLSTREET Stockholm 2022 is about outdoor public art – artistic stories in our “common living rooms”. The festival focuses on visual arts: sculpture, temporary architecture, light installations, murals – in all sorts of different sizes. Miniatures as well as big works of art. WALLSTREET Stockholm has a clear environmental thinking and prioritises art materials and processes that have little or no impact on nature.

We do not know yet. Art ends up where the festival’s participating partners decide that they want to invest in art, regardless of whether it concerns the municipality or the private business community. The process of choosing places will continue until in the spring of 2022 and will be reported on this website.

What you as a resident can do is contact your local art association. How does your neighborhood work with artistic stories? We encourage neighborhoods to get together and talk about their own place. What stories characterize the place? How do the place and its stories affect us? How can it get better?

Are you a citizen who is interested in knowing more about the art in your home area and wants to participate in the festival? We suggest you contact your local art association or other local organization that has a coordinating function in your neighborhood. WALLSTREET Stockholm collaborates with local associations as a coordinator in matters concerning the artistic stories of the place.

Neighbors can, for example: Identify good places for art in their own immediate area; Contribute to the artistic story created for the place; Co-finance art (mainly applies to local businesses); Participate in open conversations with the artist – artist talks.

WALLSTREET Stockholm has two different types of partners – public sector (municipalities) and private sector (mostly property developers).

Participating municipalities (Nacka, Stockholm, Upplands-Bro) use existing established municipal processes for the production of art where arm’s length distance applies (no politicians are allowed to be involved) and all art production is led by people with artistic competence.

Private business uses the art consultants who are connected to the festival, and who act as a link between private partners and the artist. Most art productions in the private sector follow a given process.

WALLSTREET Stockholm wants to involve neighbors at the place where there will be art as much as possible (if there are any people living on the site, that is).