Östersundrummet is a physical and digital platform facilitated by Östersund Municipality and Diös Fastigheter AB, a Swedish property management company. The platform has aimed to perform the principle of public participation by informing local residents of their plans and processes of development. Their goal is to make Östersund “an attractive, splendid, and vivid city” responding to “new habits and behaviors” of the residents. Their current project is “Nya Gustav III torg”, to reconstruct a square where the current bus station is situated. During the winter/spring of 2020, they hosted several talks about urban development with project managers, city planners, and developers. They also collected survey responses “Tyck till!” about local travel circumstances and future activities of the square at their small booth in a nearby alleyway and on their website. The current Östersundsrummet is completely digital.
‘Lokala konstprojekt’ is a part of the Public Art Agency Sweden’s ‘Knowledge hub public art’ which is a government assignment to inspire and strengthen the development of public art in all of Sweden. Within this framework, IntraGalactic arts collective, an artist-run initiative that was aware of the commission, invited an artist research group consisting of artists Malin Ståhl, Hiroko Tsuchimoto, and Anita Wernström. During the years of 2019 and 2020, they have worked collectively with performance as a process and setting up a research process with the coach travel center and service in the county of Jämtland-Härjedalen.
