Public Retreat

PUBLIC RETREAT

Platform Deep Dive

You hear the cars, the honking of their horns. You hear the loud bangs and the persisting sound from a pneumatic drill. The presence of your immediate surroundings.

How are we, humans and more-than-humans, doing in our cities, really? Who decides how the urban fabric develops and what it will sound - look - smell - feel like?

And whose interests do they have in mind?

Building upon NYA LÖVHOLMEN - an artistic study on the redevelopment of the former industrial area in Stockholm, PUBLIC RETREAT has been invited to Platform Deep Dive. Through artistic research, sound works, radio broadcasts, workshops and exhibitions, our aim is to engage fellow citizens to contemplate on the role of sounds in our lives, from their purely physical properties to their emotional, psychological and physiological impact.

During our time at Platform Stockholm we deepen our research and explore the auditory experiences, parameters and discourses of Lövholmen. A public workshop, listening sessions and broadcasts are planned for August, October and December 2024.

PUBLIC RETREAT is an interdisciplinary, practice-based art project centered around the exploration of our common auditory urban environment and the human, non-human and more than human experiences of and relations to it. Site and context specific sound-, radio-, visual-, and text-based works will be produced, shown, and broadcasted in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, with themes relevant to urban settings and societies in the world at large. The project is led by composer and sound artist Nicole Cecilie Bitsch Pedersen (DK), visual artist and writer Jo Mikkel Sjaastad Huse (NO) and architect and artist Johanna Fager (SE), with an international network of collaborators and conversation partners engaged. Bitsch Pedersen, Sjaastad Huse and Fager began their collaborative work in 2023 with the art and architect project NYA LÖVHOLMEN, which included semi-utopian architectural plans for an entire new neighborhood officially submitted as a citizen proposal; an absurd elevator pitch for an inverted skyscraper – a subterranean earth scraper – that could house all of mankind; handsewn site specific and locally distributed magazines; and a radio show about city planning, voiced in part by an enthusiastic bird. NYA LÖVHOLMEN was nominated for the Architects Sweden's 2023 Critics Award.

Jo Mikkel Sjaastad Huse (b. 1991, NO), visual artist and writer working primarily within the fields of text, installation, performance and sound. Huse has education from art academies in Oslo, Bergen, Tromsø and Stockholm. Huse stages objects and creatures, and lets them speak on his behalf about work and leisure, and the position of the animal in a human centered world. Recently exhibited in Palmera (NO), and Hjorten Sculpture Park (SE). Upcoming exhibitions in Oplandia Center for Contemporary Art in Lillehammer and BO, Oslo.

Nicole Cecilie Bitsch Pedersen (b. 1990, DK), composer, visual-, and sound artist exploring the interweaved relationship between nature, sound, and technology. Pedersen holds a Master's degree in composition from the Danish Institute of Electronic Music (DIEM) and a postmaster in public art from OPI Lab at Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, Sweden. She has recently exhibited at Skovhuset (DK), SPARK (SE), Nordic Music Days (FO), and received grants from the Danish Arts Foundation and Danish Composers' Society.

Johanna Fager (b. 1982, SE), architect and artist working with public art, spatial installations and complex architectural projects. Her focus is often on the human experience of space(s) and their sequences, materiality, sound and the political context. She is educated at KTH School of Architecture, Royal Institute of Art (SE), and Academy of Art Architecture and Design (CZ). Currently working on a site specific public artwork for Svenska Margaretakyrkan Oslo (NO) as a member of the platform Of Public Interest (OPI). She recently received a grant from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, and a research grant from Royal Institute of Art (SE).

Platform Deep Dive

The "Platform Deep Dive" initiative positions Platform Stockholm as a central hub for artistic reflection on the ongoing transformation of Lövholmen from an industrial area to a residential hub. Each year, the program invites an artist to create site-specific work that captures the effects of these changes on local artists, the community, businesses, and residents. Public Retreat is the first artist entry invited to inaugurate this program. We aim to continue this initiative throughout the entire redevelopment phase of Lövholmen.

Public Retreat has been selected to participate in Färgfabriken's Open Studio as part of the Architecture Triennial. From October 1st to October 30th 2024, join our neighboring institution for a sonic exploration that delves into pressing questions about the future of our city.

Platform Deep Dive is supported by Stockholm Stad