In the wake of the waves
Nordic Call 2025

“Our world is woven through translation. We translate between different languages, between images and words, between different types of signs, between different cultural spheres, between geographical locations, between thought and action…”

Translatability (2011, ed. Sara Arrhenius, Magnus Bergh and Cecilia Sjöholm)

With the starting point in the world heritage Grimeton Radio Station, situated outside the coastal town of Varberg in Halland, Art Inside Out invites artists to the residency In the wake of the waves. Throughout the residency, together with the participating artists, we explore the tumultuous uninterrupted movements of translation that constitutes a complex and fundamental part of human interaction, transnational flows and connections.

In the hundred years that have passed since Grimeton established Sweden’s first wireless communication channel across the Atlantic, the flow of information and people has exploded. We live today in a globalized age where exchange is an integral part of our everyday life and the larger geopolitical landscape. But what happens when language, matter and identities are transferred from one context to another? What is gained and what is lost when boundary lines are crossed? In every such transfer, different shifts occur – what we call translations. Various forms of transfers, negotiations and transformations take place here. In the residency In the wake of the waves we approach translation as a coherent but multifaceted field that opens up relationships between different forms of life and conditions as well as winding ramifications into new contexts characterized by plurality and creolization.

Beneath Grimeton’s seemingly tranquil surface hides a long-life bursting with movement – not least all the stories that have traveled via the station’s long-distance waves. They form a bridge between the past, present and future. Grimeton becomes thus a vital springboard for excavations of historical and contemporary events that open up philosophical and existential reflections. About geopolitics, everyday life and everything in between.

The residency In the wake of the waves explores the possibilities and limits of translation as well as its inconsistencies, dissonances and resistance. Based on a creative and open process, the participating artists will create new works of art during the spring of 2025 which, between June 14 and August 24, will be presented in and around the World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station.

About Grimeton Radio Station

Grimeton Radio Station was built in the 1920s, in the aftermath of the First World War, in order to establish a wireless communication link across the Atlantic between Sweden and the United States. As the only remaining station of its kind that stands witness to what wireless technology looked like in its cradle, Grimeton is today a unique World Heritage Site. 2024 marks one hundred years since the station was commissioned. Today, the well-preserved and still fully functional station has been converted into a museum. At Grimeton, visitors can dig into the technological wonders that are the basis for today’s information society, where communication across borders is crucial fundament of our world.

The First World War had caused great difficulties for Sweden in maintaining contact with the outside world, especially over long distances. The main part of international telegrams was sent via cables that were both vulnerable and expensive to maintain and were often owned by external actors. When peace came, the search for solutions that would better equip the country for the future began.

Swedish Parliament decided in 1920 to establish a wireless telegraph connection with the United States. Such a direct link was believed to help promote business deals and state affairs, but also facilitate contacts between the many Swedish Americans and their old homeland. Grimeton was chosen as the site, and the work on constructing the radio station began in 1922 and was completed three years later, in 1924. That this new radio station would be built on the Swedish west coast was clear from the beginning as it was advantageous to have as short a distance to the USA as possible. At the same time, the signal could go freely to Norway, Denmark and Scotland. The open fields in Grimeton’s and Hunnestad’s parishes in central Halland were recognized as the best location.

New transmissions destinations were established after a while. During World War II, the station played an important role in connecting with the rest of the world, due to the interruption of the traffic over cables. The 1950s turned into the golden age for transmitting via Grimeton. Thereafter, new methods of communication were developed and Grimeton’s importance as an active radio station gradually declined. But the station has never been completely shut down.

Although a network of similar radio stations was built all around the world during the early 1900s, today only Grimeton remains in working order. Today, Grimeton is an important industrial monument and is also a witness to an important period in the development of the information society that we live in today. Since 2004, it has been on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites.

Two Nordic artists will be hosted in a production residency in 2025

This call for applications is open to professionally active artists living in the neighboring Nordic countries Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland.

Residency and work production is carried out with the following schedule: on-site research in Grimeton/Varberg between February 10–21, independent work from home during the spring, on-site stay Grimeton/Varberg and finalizing production May 5–June 9 and installation June 10–14. The on-site stay during May and June can, if possible, be adapted to the artistic process in dialogue with selected artists.

The artworks are presented in an exhibition and public program at the World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station and its surroundings between June 14–August 24, 2025.

Each selected artist receives a fee of SEK 100,000 (excl. VAT, F-taxation, paid by invoice) which includes exhibition and participation compensation. If you apply as an artist duo, the joint fee amounts to SEK 130,000 (excl. VAT, F-taxation, paid by invoice).

Art Inside Out offers an individual production budget of SEK 50,000 (excl. VAT) to each chosen artist. The same amount applies to artist duos. There is an additional budget for installation-related costs.

Art Inside Out covers overheads such as travel, accommodation, work premises and process management. The artists are given the opportunity to work independently and/or together. During the research period of the residency, the artists are offered a program of meetings with local and invited guests, researchers and experts. Participation in public programs carried out in connection to the residency and the exhibition is part of the assignment.

The application period

October 8 – November 4, 2024 (23.59 CET). The jury’s decision will be given to all applicants during December 2024. The call is closed now.

Photo: Emanuel Cederqvist