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 course participants from Långholmens folkhögskola.

Långholmens folkhögskola is a neighboring school to Marabouparken sharing the park space together. However, based on a personal experience of being a student at the school, we see that interaction between the two institutions has been limited, resulting in the guided tours of the sculpture park by Marabouparken not catered to the course participants – who are mostly adults with diverse cultural and social backgrounds and are learning Swedish as their second language.

Our goal was to create an engaging workshop that provides the course participants with a fun and creative opportunity to interact with art, especially with the sculptures within the park, which they have in such close proximity to their school.

Under Emma’s direction, the workshop was structured into three distinct phases. The first phase was held in the classroom and involved an art expression exercise. In the second and third phases, which took place in Marabouparken, the participants engaged in exploration, reflection, and intervention with various sculptures in the park.