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 between 2017 and 2025.

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.

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).

Barcelona-based architects Flores and Prats were appointed to design the first residential building in Råängen, which will sit close to Hage.

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

The public program included an ambitious range of talks, walks, workshops and screenings involving local, national and international speakers and participants.

The first of these events was held in January 2018. Elisabeth Gerle, Professor of Ethics at Lund University and Lena Sjöstrand, Chaplain of Lund Cathedral, discussed the nature of 'heaven', within the context of Nathan Coley's artwork 'Heaven Is A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens', installed next to the Cathedral as part of the Råängen programme.

The first Råängen seminar was held on 28 April 2018. Speakers from Lund, New York, Berlin and London considered the subject of time as a cultural construct and tool for project development. The theme linked to Lund Cathedral’s presence in the town over a 900 year period (since 1123, when the east-alter in the crypt was consecrated) and the commitment to their land in Brunnshög a thousand years into the future.

We discussed the unique nature of long-term projects; the concept of earthly and heavenly time; our fragile relationship to the land; and the varying and magical ways that contemporary artists have worked with the subject of time. We challenged the idea that the future is the only place available for imaginative play; we located Råängen within the history of mankind, and considered pre-modern concepts of time as place.

Speakers:

CATHY HAYNES, writer, curator and artist, London
ANNA LAGERGREN, archeologist, Lund
FIONA RABY (Dunne & Raby), academic, architect and designer, New York
LISA ROSENDAHL, curator, Berlin
LENA SJÖSTRAND, Chaplain, Lund Cathedral

Chair: Jes Fernie, Curator, Råängen

'Intervene / Shift / Compel'
28 Feb 2019
Moderna Museet Malmö

”What I want to do is intervene in the fabric of society” Stephen Willats

How can artists contribute to a discussion about the way we live in the 21st century? What are the mechanisms that artists, curators and commissioners use to make democratic, active public spaces that address urgent, political and social issues? Can such projects bring about societal change or just a shift in perception?

In this afternoon event, artists and curators from Sweden, Norway and Britain presented a series of international projects that created a framework for discussion.
This event was part of the public programme for Nathan Coley’s Råängen sculpture And We Are Everywhere, a temporary artwork commissioned by Lund Cathedral on their land in Brunnshög, in the outskirts of Lund. The work addressed questions regarding access to land, homeless states and the role of the church in contemporary life. The discussion will inform the Cathedral’s long-term urban development programme.

Speakers:

KERSTIN BERGENDAL, artist and lecturer, Valand Academy, Göteborg
ELEANOR PINFIELD, Director, Art on the Underground, London
EMMA RIBBING, artist and choreographer, Malmö
LENA SJÖSTRAND, Chaplain, Lund Cathedral
APOLONIJA ŠUŠTERŠIČ, artist and Head of Program Art & Public Space, Oslo National Academy of the Arts

Chair: Jes Fernie, Curator, Råängen

'Hage'
5 September 2019
Skissernas Museum, Lund

In September 2019 we held an event at Skissernas Museum in Lund that focused on ‘Hage’, Brendeland & Kristoffersen’s public garden for Råängen, due to open in 2021. Geir Brendeland introduced the practice’s approach to the commission, the design concept and its relation to Lund. Other Råängen team members discussed elements of the build, the materials, and the connection to theology and community. The evening ended with a discussion with audience members.

The event was organised around a long table which echoed the design of the communal table at ‘Hage’. A selection of items connected to the design and construction of the garden were displayed on the table, including watercolours by Geir Brendeland, plans, maquettes, fruit, planning documents, engineering drawings, photos, models, Cor-ten steel samples and bricks.

Speakers:

GEIR BRENDELAND, Brendeland & Kristoffersen
LENA SJÖSTRAND, Chaplain, Lund Cathedral
MATS PERSSON Treasurer, Lund Cathedral
JAKE FORD, White Arkitekter

Chair: JES FERNIE, Curator, Råängen

'Working with Nothing: artists & architects building a new neighbourhood'
18 January 2022
Online talk

A discussion about the character of the Råängen programme with three artists and architects from Barcelona, Glasgow, and Trondheim.

Speakers:

EVA PRATS and RICARDO FLORES, Flores & Prats Architects
NATHAN COLEY, artist
GEIR BRENDELAND, Brendeland & Kristoffersen Arkitekter

Chair: KIERAN LONG, Director, ArkDes

Watch a recording of the talk here.

'Dig, Splash, Dig!'
7 May 2022
Hage, Råängen

This was the first in a programme of events organised by Byggstudio, an educational design group based in Stockholm and Oslo. The theme for the programme is PLAY & RESEARCH and will involve local community groups and residents. Together, we’ll be testing ideas and developing networks for long-term partnerships in Råängen.

For this event, local kids and adults were invited to interrogate the soil of Råängen by digging clay pits, making ceramics, and burying biodegradable objects.

‘What are we afraid of?’
24 Sept 2024
Online

Our online talk ‘What are we afraid of? Longing, anxiety and hope in the age of AI’, involving an AI specialist, a priest and a film maker, raised a multitude of fascinating, terrifying, liberating topics.

Using Tor Lindstrand’s images of a possible future Råängen we spoke about opportunities to consider a future we don’t know; the importance of visualising spaces that involve dirt, disfunction and diversity as well as dynamics that are part of life; we considered the risks involved in thinking that we can handle and control reality; and we made a plea for more gaps, darkness and open space for reflection, resonance and creativity.

Speakers:
Mia Engberg, film director and screenwriter
Lena Sjöstrand, Chaplain, Lund Cathedral
Tor Lindstrand, architect, lecturer and AI specialist
Chair: Jes Fernie, Curator, Råängen

Watch a recording of the event here