open call for public art | west link: chronotopia
The City of Gothenburg invites artists and artist groups to participate in the international selective tendering process for one of the biggest infrastructure and urban development projects in the city’s history: the West Link. It’s a new underground rail link with three stations in different parts of the city. The vision is for the artists who are awarded public art commissions to participate in the creation of the city’s shared public spaces around these stations.
The Chronotopia art programme The art produced within the framework of the West Link project is to be rooted in the general art programme developed for the project, called Chronotopia. The name comes from the Greek Χρόνος (chrónos), meaning time, and τόπος (tópos), meaning place. The theme of the Chronotopia programme emphasizes the use of site-specific artistic exploration to investigate our contemporary world, the potential of the past, and possible stories of the future. The city of Gothenburg is both a place and an era in time, or rather many different parallel spaces and times. Cross-fertilisation among these spaces and eras can strengthen and deepen the city’s ethical and existential dimensions.
The urban spaces This tender covers public art for the urban spaces around the Haga and Korsvägen Stations.
Haga Station lies at the intersection of three Gothenburg neighborhoods of cultural-historical significance: Vallgraven, Haga, and Vasastaden. The station will be an entirely new element in this milieu that facilitates better connections among these neighborhoods. The area around the site is characterised by a healthy mix of housing, workplaces, educational institutions, and commercial activity. There are also large parks that offer rich natural, cultural, and social qualities.
The Korsvägen (“Crossroads”) Station is being constructed beneath a transportation hub where public transit, car traffic, cyclists, and pedestrians all converge. It is a pulsing centre surrounded by some of Gothenburg’s most prominent landmarks, including the Swedish Exhibition and Congress Centre and Liseberg Amusement Park. A constant flow of people fills the place with life, movement, and diverse forms of human expression. Since the 18th century, the site has been a significant crossroads for two important roads leading into and out of the city, Södra Vägen and Örgrytevägen.