The staircase at Sergels Square was transformed in 2017 into a sea of flowers, after the terrorist attack when Rakhmat Akilov mowed down people on Drottninggatan with a truck and killed five people. It is there that artist Ann-Sofi Sidén and architect Mats Fahlander have created the memorial monument "Fredad plats/Sanctuary", following a commission from the City of Stockholm.
We tried to relate to the image of all the flowers, candles and greetings, things that people left there in their distress, says Ann-Sofi Sidén.
Over the concrete ramp along the façade of the Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, which resembles a balcony, a large golden blanket in bronze now undulates over the metal railing, "as if it were hung out to dry".
When such an accident happens, it happens quickly and suddenly everything has changed. We have translated the instantaneous into a blanket, which probably everyone has a relationship with. It's a monument, but it's a very unmonumental way of making a sculpture, says Mats Fahlander.
Poem Fragment
The blanket is intended to correspond to the love that Stockholmers showed after the attack, and it will be heated. It also brings to mind the warm blankets that are often offered to people in shock.
The memorial has been delayed – it has been complex to craft the sculpture within the budget, emphasize the artists. They also put a lot of effort into selecting poem fragments that wind their way through the seams of the blanket, with poetry lines by, among others, Lars Norén, Dmitri Plax, Louise Glück, and Bodil Malmsten.
We have sought images for longing and loss, and at the same time for life's constantly ongoing flow, says Anna-Sofi Sidén, who hopes that people will read the lines.
Contact Point
One of the challenges has also been that Sergels Square is already such a well-known place, and visually difficult to compete with. Mats Fahlander thinks the square functions as a living room, and during the work, he has been there at all times of day.
If you were there for more than a quarter of an hour, someone always came up to you. So there is a kind of contact-seeking there, even if it can be in a twisted way, says he and tells of meetings with both police officers and drug dealers.
The blanket is dedicated to the memory of the attack, emphasize the two, but they also hope that the sculpture can become a point that people seek out, for warmth or community.
It's a place that needs a warm blanket, says Ann-Sofi Sidén.
The sculpture "Fredad plats/Sanctuary" was commissioned by the City of Stockholm and Stockholm Art, and was carried out by artist Ann-Sofi Sidén and architect Mats Fahlander. The title refers to the concept of sanctuary – a refuge or a protected area for humans and animals.
Ann-Sofi Sidén is educated at the Hochschule der Kunst in Berlin and has, among other things, exhibited at Bonniers Konsthall and Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the Venice Biennale.
Mats Fahlander is an architect, among other things for Fahlander Arkitekter. Among his public projects are, among other things, Djurgårdsvarvet with Oaxen Krog & Slip, as well as Vrak – Museum of Wrecks.
The duo has previously created the artwork "Puzzled" on Campus Gärdet in Stockholm together.
