close-enough

Our workshop series, Close Enough to Marabouparken? was developed with the goal of exploring potential solutions to the issues we observed in the Swedish art world and experimenting with new approaches. Led by artist Emma Dominguez, the workshops utilized Marabouparken’s sculpture park as a dynamic space for bodily orientations and art engagement experiences.

The selection of participants was a crucial aspect of our project. We conducted two separate workshops, each focusing on exploring the park. The first workshop was with the Index Teen Advisory Board (ITAB), while the second was with students from Långholmens Folkhögskola.

Index is an art institution located in the heart of Stockholm that serves as an engaging platform for both artists and the audience, and ITAB is a crucial part of Index and plays an active role in decision-making, evaluation, and programming for the institution. As the workshop coincided with Index’s exhibition on institutional frameworks, titled THE -ING FORM: a working situation, the collaboration was also a relevant and timely opportunity for both parties.

The main objective of this workshop was to understand how our bodies orient themselves in different art spaces and institutions through the lens of Marabouparken sculpture park. We used Sara Ahmed (2007)’s concept of whiteness as a foundational theoretical concept to guide our exploration. The workshop was conducted in two phases. The first phase took place at Index and was a discussion of the text by Ahmed. The second phase took place at the park space at Marabouparken where the participants, along with the artist, explored, reflected, and intervened with different sculptures, objects, and spaces in the park.