Current projects from Child Culture design
Follow the students of Child culture design, HDK-Valand in their ongoing and recently completed work and projects.
The first year students spent their second semester working on a group project in Kiruna, one of Sweden's northernmost cities. The task was to design a play sculpture/ public installation through a co-design process with children in Kiruna´s new city. The work was installed as part of the Luleå Biennale 2024 and was created with support from Konstfrämjandet Norrbotten.
The wandering objects is a play sculpture consisting of three different structures. The structures are made from wood and collected objects and architectural components from Kiruna´s old city hall. The structures were made through a participatory design process where the students worked with children from local schools in Kiruna to create a research station and accompanying, playful tools for exploration of a site. Schools included Högalid, Samesckolan and Thoren Framtid and children were between the ages of 8 and 12. The play sculptures are located in a small forest next to the new city hall. Children are encouraged to use these structures as a research station, from which they can observe and study the new city hall and the new city. Children were invited to a workshop at th play sculptures where they created tools for exploration to be left on the structure.
The Wandering Objects was created by Fong Yee Ng, Agata Drozdz, Na Li, Milma Loeskow and Benjamin Redin.
Andan is an art installation that comes alive with wind and light, two resources that Kiruna has in abundance. It is based on both the wind as a natural force and on the collective energy and breath of the children of Kiruna, who are growing up in this singular city on the move. The installation is the result of a collaboration between children at Högalid, Sameskolan and Thoren Framtid schools and masters students in Child Culture Design at Gothenburg University’s HDK-Valand Academy of Design and Craft. Kiruna, a unique city with a rich mix of cultures and a complex history, forms the background for this project, intended to create a new meeting space for Kiruna’s children and to make visible the light and wind that characterize its climate. Andan makes use of discarded textile material, reducing its environmental impact and turning waste into something new within the site of Kiruna’s old city center. The movement of the fabric in the wind, and the ambiance created by the light shining through layers of textile, are a metaphor for the creativity and resilience of children growing up in this unusual place.
Andan was created by Zala Seles, Yulei Zhang, Sara Carvalho, Rocío Soto, and Erica Schuetz.
