I am searching for what doesn’t exist

In the work I am searching for things that don’t exist, which consists of drawings, video installation and material collected from Lagan, we make a journey along the river – from the mouth at Kattegatt to the source south of Jönköping. Together we follow the movement of the water through landscapes characterized by the slowness of nature, but also by human intervention. On the way, we pass dams and power plants that stop the migration of fish and fundamentally change ecosystems. 

With Lagan as a geographical and symbolic vein, we look at the vulnerable ecological cycles threatened by regulation, industrial needs and the loss of biodiversity. In one of the video works, we meet Per Ingvarsson, a water engineer and committed restorer of water ecosystems. He talks about a threatened living space, but also about a resistance – a dedication to understand and protect. The river pearl mussels that still remain in Lagan are all over 100 years old. Together with them, the knowledge of their environment risks disappearing. Through Ingvarsson´s story, the work raises questions about time, responsibility and what it means to care for a place.