Projects

Hage
Brendeland & Kristoffersen, 'Hage', 2021, Råängen. Photo: Peter Westrup

AWAE
Nathan Coley, 'And We Are Everywhere', 2018, Råängen. Photo: Peter Westrup

Heaven
Nathan Coley, 'Heaven Is A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens', 2008. Installed adjacent to Lund Cathedral, 2017. Photo: Peter Westrup

Cathedral
Lund Cathedral from the north-west. Per Bagge 1899. Historical Museum at Lund University.

Råängen

Råängen is an art and architecture commissioning programme for Lund in south Sweden run by Lund Cathedral, curated by myself and produced by Jake Ford of White Arkitekter.

It is a platform for discussion about what happens on Lund Cathedral’s land in Brunnshög, a site five kilometers north east of Lund. The neighbourhood is on the threshold of large-scale development which will significantly change the character of the area over the next thirty years.

Our aim is to rethink the way that towns are developed by introducing a commissioning programme that will become a tool for conversation, critical debate and engagement before any large-scale building work begins. The programme will inform the long-term development of the Cathedral’s land, and result in a neighbourhood that allows for new ways of living, working and studying in the 21st century.

Over the next ten years (2017 - 27) Råängen, which translates as ‘raw meadow’, will develop a narrative that builds on the involvement of artists, architects, local people, developers, contractors and university staff, creating the groundwork for future stories in a new neighbourhood. It will provide a framework for discussion about the fundamental issues at stake in the overall development of Brunnshög: value systems, belief, ownership, fear, faith, time, beauty, commitment and endeavour.

The first artist to be commissioned was Nathan Coley whose work 'Heaven Is A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens' (2008) was installed adjacent to Lund Cathedral's apse in 2017. Coley made a new work for Brunnshög, 'And We Are Everywhere', which was installed from June 2018 to March 2019. Norwegian architects Brendeland + Kristoffersen were commissioned to make a permanent public garden for Råängen which opened in 2021. Barcelona-based architects Flores and Prats have been appointed to design the first residential building in Råängen, which will sit close to Hage.

Hage won the 2021 Lund Architecture Prize, and was a finalist for the European Prize for Urban Public Space 2022, and the 2023 Kasper Salin Prize (Sweden's most prestigious architecture prize).

Råängen films made about 'Heaven Is A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens' and 'And We Are Everywhere' can be viewed here.


Information on the Råängen public programme can be found here

Jes Fernie

Mobile: 07960687912


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