A Place in Europe + SSE
“Is a person’s destitution a result of individual or of societal failure?”
"Art has a crucial role at SSE, leading us to reflect empathetically on the global challenges of contemporary times. A Place in Europe circles around scarcity, despair, belonging and migration and I´m glad that both our students and the pedestrians on Sveavägen get a chance to experience and ponder it. It raises questions some of our researchers try to answer2, says Lars Strannegård, President of Stockholm School of Economics.
A Place in Europe is a film-sculpture made by artists Cecilia Parsberg and Erik Pauser in collaboration with architects Haval Murad and David Martinez Escobar. It is placed outside SSE in a cooperation between Misum (Mistra Center for Sustainable Markets at SSE) and SSE Art Initiative. It takes the form of a house that appears to be sinking into the ground and is a screen where the short film A Place in Europe is shown. The film’s protagonist, Thomas, has for three years been sleeping under a loading platform in Stockholm but is now being evicted. He represents a displaced citizenry, living in a parallel economic, political and social reality. The film tacitly asks the question: “Is a person’s destitution a result of individual or of societal failure?”
The installation is shown in partnership between SSE, Liljevalchs Konsthall, and Stockholm Konst. A Place in Europe has also been shown at Odenplan in Stockholm, in Örebro and Karlstad.
On January 15 the students of SSE has invited the artists behind A Place in Europe in order to all they ever wanted to know about the film sculpture outside the school. Come meet the artists, the architects and Thomas Kwame Awarija (the protagonist in the film) on January 15, 12-13, in Ragnar. Lunch is served.
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To continue the discussion sparked by A Place in Europe, SSE is arranging a seminar about wealth inequality and the role of art in democracy on January 22, 16 – 17.30 in room Ragnar. The artists of A Place in Europe and SSE researcher Jesper Roine will be in conversation with Stefan Jonsson, a professor of ethnicity from Linköping University. Open for all.
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