HVA SYNS DU? — Kunst på Torvet
Everyone has an opinion about public art. What happens when they are invited to decide what gets made?
From 26 April to 5 May 2022, JAM PUBLIC transformed Kristiansand’s main square into an outdoor exhibition, workshop and public arena for discussing and producing art.
JAM began by creating a deliberately varied collection of sculptures. It included a sculpture for birds, a sculpture for people living in poverty, a smiling face, a monument to a national hero and an upside-down shopping trolley on a pedestal.
These works gave visitors something specific to respond to. Should public art be political or decorative? Beautiful or ugly? Useful, funny, heroic or impossible to understand?
At the centre of the installation was Art on Demand. Visitors could request an artwork from the artists—or sit down at the workshop table and make something themselves. People contributed ideas, made sketches and helped build, while new sculptures appeared throughout the project. The exhibition remained in the square and continued to change over ten days.
The catalyst for the project was the resistance and anger that public art can provoke. Rather than dismissing those opinions, HVA SYNS DU? invited them into the artistic process. Art became a way to discuss what matters in a shared city—and to discover what might happen when disagreement becomes something we can build together.
Developed and presented by JAM PUBLIC, following an initial suggestion by Lisbet Skregelid, Professor of Art Education at the University of Agder, to engage directly with people who were angry about public art.
With artistic and production assistance from theatre professor Jeppe Kristensen and UiA Contemporary Theatre’s class of 2020. Photography by Jørund F. Pedersen.
Supported by Arts Council Norway, Kristiansand Municipality, Agder County Municipality, Franzefoss Gjenvinning, Optimera and the University of Agder.
