Invited by Jönköping municipality to take part in their Guest Artist Residency Programme in Huskvarna, Sweden, we have been continuing our The Sprit of Play project in a new context.
Residency takes part in a old Husqvarna factory's smith's village - Smedbyn, which is now a street full of art and craft workshops and shops/galleries.
Spirit of Play takes many forms and in this project it took form of a cat - a cat that has been resident of the street but also the 'cat' sewing machine - first sewing machine made by Husqvarna.
During the 7-week project we have been collecting local stories, made our own 'craft' objects, to inspire visitors to make their ones in our craft corner, created outdoor play objects and worked with space, both indoor (our own workshop/studio) as well as outdoor (the steet outside), making it more playful and interesting for visitors.
The aim of the project was to activate the area and make it more child-friendly.
We run workshops both with visitors as well as children from local kindergarten, letting them create their own handicrafts but also developing the story of the cat and the area. The workshops with kindergarten had semi-research character, with us trying to find out children's perspective on the are and their point of view on playfulness.
The result of the project is a tourist folder with a craft guide and map of Smedbyn. In the guide we have proposed few crafting manuals for making pieces most popular during our workshops. The map, which is placed on the other side, contains of the visualisation of the area and introduces it by the story of the local cat, which becomes the area guide. The folder is our interpretation of the children's point of view, and tries to preserve the spirit of activities we've done during our residency. It is a permanent solution which doesn't need much maintenance from the municipality but promotes the area and offers the future visitors some playfulness.
Residency takes part in a old Husqvarna factory's smith's village - Smedbyn, which is now a street full of art and craft workshops and shops/galleries.
Spirit of Play takes many forms and in this project it took form of a cat - a cat that has been resident of the street but also the 'cat' sewing machine - first sewing machine made by Husqvarna.
During the 7-week project we have been collecting local stories, made our own 'craft' objects, to inspire visitors to make their ones in our craft corner, created outdoor play objects and worked with space, both indoor (our own workshop/studio) as well as outdoor (the steet outside), making it more playful and interesting for visitors.
The aim of the project was to activate the area and make it more child-friendly.
We run workshops both with visitors as well as children from local kindergarten, letting them create their own handicrafts but also developing the story of the cat and the area. The workshops with kindergarten had semi-research character, with us trying to find out children's perspective on the are and their point of view on playfulness.
The result of the project is a tourist folder with a craft guide and map of Smedbyn. In the guide we have proposed few crafting manuals for making pieces most popular during our workshops. The map, which is placed on the other side, contains of the visualisation of the area and introduces it by the story of the local cat, which becomes the area guide. The folder is our interpretation of the children's point of view, and tries to preserve the spirit of activities we've done during our residency. It is a permanent solution which doesn't need much maintenance from the municipality but promotes the area and offers the future visitors some playfulness.
