The symposium takes it departure point in the 1970, and the interconnections between cultural policies and artistic positions then and now. The polish artists Magdalena Abakanowicz and Władysław Hasior, presently exhibited in Södertörn University's Art Space (MA532), is one focus point.

The symposium Art in Public Life takes as its starting point the 1970s, a decade characterised by major changes in the municipalities in the Södertörn area. Residential areas that were part of the public housing programme known as the Million Programme and large hospitals such as Huddinge sjukhus and Södertälje sjukhus were built. The urban transformation here and in Sweden at large was characterised by a powerful cultural policy in which art played a central role.

As telling examples, the already internationally well-known Polish artists Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930–2017) and Władysław Hasior (1928–1999) were commissioned to produce large-scale public artworks in the Södertörn area. The symposium offers presentations on these subjects. They will serve as a departure point for a discussion on questions such as: What can we learn from artists, art commissioners and cultural policymakers of the 1970s? What strategies are still in use? What happens in societies where right-wing populism undermines artistic freedom and autonomy?

With a special focus on relations between Sweden and Poland, the symposium also contributes new perspectives on transnational exchanges during the 1970s. Finally, the symposium aims to provide research on our contemporary history of art in public life in dialogue with actors in the field producing public art.

Presentations: Miriam Andersson-Blecher, director Botkyrka konsthall; Joanna Sandell, director Södertälje konsthall; Finbar Krook-Rosato, Art Project Leader Region Stockholm, Camilla Larsson and Annika Öhrner, Art History, Södertörn.

Key Notes:
DR KAROLINA KOLENDA, UNIVERSITY OF KRAKOW
Working in/with the Swedish landscape. Władysław Hasior’s
Solspann and Environmental Art History
PROF. AGATA JAKUBOWSKA, UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW
Magdalena Abakanowicz and Her Abakans in the Artworld of the
1970s
DR KIM WEST, SÖDERTÖRN UNIVERSITY
Kulturhuset 69/96: An Institution in Two Cultural Policy
Paradigms

This symposium, generously funded by Södertörn University and the Polish Institute, is part of a collaboration project involving the Department of Art History, Södertörn University, Region Stockholm’s Culture Administration, Botkyrka Art Gallery, Södertälje Art Gallery and the Polish Institute. It is arranged in connection to Art Space Södertörn.