Permission to Land:
Arrivals
With Arrivals, the brains behind projects like the up-and-coming gallery Young Art are continuing their quest to spread great art at an affordable price. Arrivals is about selling young, Swedish art, working only with art students and freshly graduated artists, in a limited edition online (www.arrivals.se).
Consisting of Irena Steindorsdottir, Antonia von Euler and Caroline Leuhusen, the creative crew has started a new project under their Arrivals umbrella: Återvinn Sverige (Recycle Sweden), about racism and anxiety about strangers.
The project has also gotten another spinoff, where the artists are working with undocumented immigrant artists working in Sweden, in an effort to help bring their voices into the art world – as well as society in general.
Once a month a group of Arrivals artists meets with undocumented creators and teenagers to make art together.
“We wanted to build a safe space where one can create art and get inspired by one another, but also highlight the problem of an excluding society,” says Caroline Leuhusen, one of the founders of the project.
They hope that the project can be one way to build empathy and understanding for their co-citizens.
Even though it’s currently about just making art together, it will soon take a new twist: in May they will hold an event to discuss these issues, and hopefully show some of the art created during the sessions.
How did you get this idea?
The project started as a spin-off from the project we had this fall, called Återvinn Sverige. In September we had an exhibition where nine of our Arrivals artists printed art on recycled paper from the ballots of the Sweden Democrats. We got a lot of positive feedback, and many of the artists decided to donate their income to an organization called Ingen människa är illegal (No Person Is Illegal).
We wanted to continue on the theme with how art can affect a society, how it opens up channels to express oneself. And since we have loads of passion and creativity within our team and amongst our artists, we wanted to use that and make something interesting.
What are you striving to achieve with the project?
The main objective is just to create a safe environment, to expand the borders of the city and to open up spaces where people can feel welcome to create art. In the long run, we also want to highlight the situation of undocumented people in the city and what it does to a society to exclude people in need.
How does it fit with your other projects?
The objective is similar to *Återvinn Sverige* – to create an open society. And I think Arrivals in general stands for a pretty provocative approach to what we feel is important. Many of our artists work with these questions. Arrivals should be a channel for the artist’s respective message – to get it out there – and this might be a catalyst for that.
Looking further ahead, what’s in the pipeline for Arrivals?
Now we are working on landing this project, but of course to spread Arrivals to the world! One of our main goals is to make it easy to buy art.
Unfortunately, but perhaps understandably, we did not have the chance to speak to any of the undocumented immigrant participants for this article, but one of the people taking part in the Arrivals project is the artist Philipp Gallon.
He’s a German photographer and visual artist living, working and watching clouds in Stockholm since 2010. He did his masters in Gothenburg, fell in love and stayed.
He first got in touch with the gallery when he moved to Stockholm, by contacting Antonia, the CEO of YoungArt. They met, he showed her his work and they clicked. Soon, they did their first exhibition together.
“We have been doing exhibitions ever since, but most of all we’ve become friends and the gallery has been really supportive in my artistic process,” he says.
He calls his relationship with art ”ambivalent.”
“It’s the most fulfilling thing to work with and the most challenging at the same time. Sometimes it’s just like any other job, but a very, very interesting one.
He considers himself privileged.
“I feel like there’s not much I do not already have. But generally I hope to see some changes in society eventually, like more compassion, solidarity and maybe less of an ‘us and them’ attitude. I hope through my work I can participate to that at least some.
Keep updated on what’s going on with Arrivals, Återvinn Sverige and Young Art at their website!
SIDEBAR
Places to buy art prints online to an affordable price!
Ed-art
Elisabeth Blennow Calälv quit her job at Galleri Sandström and started her own business. She is now selling high-end art prints for a friendly price online. Her goal? To get rid of all the Andy Warhol prints from Swedish living rooms and bring contemporary art to the masses.
Arrivals/Young Art
This creative crew sells great art at affordable prices. Get your own print – or even an original – for a price most middle-class Swedes can afford!
Degree Art
The idea is to sell art from future stars, at an affordable price! Perfect for your wedding, birthday and baby gifts!
