the land of the future
in 15 and 1/2 chapters
31 MAy – 12 OcTOBER 2025
The exhibition THE LAND OF THE FUTURE IN 15 AND 1/2 CHAPTERS fills an entire 3,600 square metres with art from over 45 artists from the Euro-Arctic region, divided into fifteen different chapters. Havremagasinet’s 15 years anniversary in 2025 represent its entire history – a reminder that the art gallery is only a small part of a larger story in motion, in a complex and multicultural region, which in turn is linked to an even larger geography and history.
As attention turns to the North once again – not least in light of the so-called green transition – Havremagasinet invites visitors to The Land of the Future in 15½ Chapters, an exhibition where art takes centre stage as the heart, testimony and companion for reflections on this geography in a time of profound change.
Participating artists: Interprt, Hans Ragnar Mathisen, Karin Keisu & Josse Thuresson, Lisbeth Kielatis, Britta Marakatt-Labba, Johan Sandström, Magnus Fredriksson and Curt Persson, Erik Holmstedt, Johannes Samuelsson, Mia Rogersdotter Gran, Theres K Agdler, Helena Adolfsson, Jenni Laiti, David Larsson & Jens Strandberg, Anders Sunna, Nils Nilsson Skum, Lars Pirak, Ralph Erskine, Stig Winnerskog, Anja & Tomas Örn, Annika Dahlsten & Markku Laakso, Tommy Tommie, Anders Alm, Per Isak Juuso, Aleksander Florensky, Mark Roberts & Minna Rainio, Irene Rasmussen, Tine Surel Lange & Pavlo Grazdanskij, Alena Vlasova, Amund Sjølie Sveen, Gammelstads handväveri, Ida Isak Westerberg, Stina Edin, Maja Möller, Atti Johansson, Hanna Kanto, Lena Ylipää, Jaakko Heikkilä, Eija Mäkivuoti & Brita-Kaisa Välimaa, Kent Klich & Tina Enghoff, Einari Junttila, Raisa Raekallio & Misha del Val, Mapping Boden and the permanent Art Collection of Havremagasinet (Carola Grahn, Linda Tedsdotter, Frihetsförmedlingen, Lena Ylipää, Anders Sunna, Breeze Yoko och Fabian Linna).
Presenting the Following 15 chapters, from floor 6 to floor 1.
Floor 6A.
The borderland is the land that is and is not. The borderland is boundless and defined by everything it borders, speechless and multilingual, with its own language. Jaakko Heikkilä’s photographs tell the story of the border Torne River, and the faces and identities that populate both banks of the river. Lena Ylipää searches for the lost language and traces its roots in the nature she tenderly depicts. Hanna Kanto paints flora, fauna and landscapes, nature and culture, stereotypes and commons from the northern region, all interwoven in explosive figures and accurate tableaux. Ida Isak Westerberg stages identities beyond gender and language in textile works, to the point where humans and nature also merge. Eija Mäkivuoti & Brita-Kaisa Välimaa explore history and the little-known upheavals of the Second World War in the border region.
Floor 6B.
In 2015, Europe experienced a large refugee and migrant crisis with over one million people seeking refuge. In the Past We Made History, is an artistic inquiry in the form of an archive, focusing on strategies of remembering and bearing witness from persons with refugee experience which are often left out of collective memory or official history writing. Consisting of oral history, photography, photogrammetry, and video installations, the archive forms a living tapestry as it continues to open itself up to change and transformation. The different threads can be seen as multiple timelines that bend the past and the present. –Kent Klich & Tina Enghoff.
One of the places where people came to create better conditions in life was Boden (and its surroundings). In connection with In the Past We Made History, Havremagasinet Länskonsthall, ABF Norr Boden and Save the Children are now carrying out a joint project called Mapping Boden, in which personal memories from the years 2015–2019 are being collected into an archive. The archive will highlight an important part of Swedens history, a part that is currently not preserved. The project and the collection will continue for an extended period, with the first stage being displayed together with In the Past We Made History during the summer of 2025.
Maalaus, jota ei ole tarkoitus katsoa / A Painting That Is Not Meant To Be Looked At / En målning som inte är menad att betraktas presents paintings by Kittilä-based artist duo Raisa Raekallio and Misha del Val in conversation with a painting from the Aine Art Museum collection by painter Einari Junttila (1901-1975) from the year 1960. The artist duo Raisa Raekallio (b. 1978, Kittilä, Finland) and Misha del Val (b. 1979, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain) have been creating collaborative paintings, drawings, performance pieces, curatorial projects, and podcasts for over ten years. Their exhibition Lapin piha (12/2024-4/2025) at the Aine Art Museum in Tornio, Finland showcased their latest collaborative paintings which thematically move through the heritage of the exoticized landscape of Lapland. What does it mean to compress the landscape of Lapland into a rectangular form and frame it?Curated by Amanda Hakoköngäs
Floor 5A.
Woven Places explores the role of textiles in defining and shaping places and identities in Norrbotten. Through a dialogue between traditional patterns and contemporary textile art, alternative ways of mapping spaces are highlighted – beyond male-dominated cartography. Here, textiles take their place in the public sphere and highlight stories, techniques and knowledge that have long been passed down through women-led practices. Visitors are invited to experience a space where woven patterns create new perspectives – at once recognisable and unfamiliar, historical and contemporary, feminist and queer. Participating: Gammelstad Handweaving, Ida Isak Westerberg, Stina Edin and Maja Möller. Curated by Silvia Colombo and assistant curator Ana Victoria Bruno.
Floor 5B.
Mechanical/Organic – Atti Johansson (1917–2003) was born in Kiruna but spent most of her life in Sollefteå. Her artistry was shaped by the major social issues of the 20th century – issues such as new computer technology, environmental degradation, nuclear power, peace work and the role of women in society. With strong integrity and a critical approach, she explored her contemporary world in both form and content. The title of the exhibition, Mechanical/Organic, is taken from one of her most significant series, which also formed the basis for several public works – including the ten-metre-long wall decoration Our consciousness lags far behind technological progress. The contrasts between appearance and reality, hard and soft, artificial and natural, destructive and constructive run like a thread through her work. In an age marked by climate crisis and digital transformation, Attis’s work is more relevant than ever. Curated by Karolina Aastrup.
Floor 4A.
Bothnic Stories – Two multifaceted, lively and comprehensive photographic stories showcase the Bottnican landscape and its inhabitants. Tommy Tommies’ Kan Sverige klara sig utan Norrbotten? (Can Sweden survive without Norrbotten?) depicts an eventful 1970s with development and decline, traditions and innovations, landscapes that are transformed, disappear and remain, people in everyday life and at celebrations, work and leisure, struggle and joy. Anders Alm’s Bottnisk Blues offers an equally colourful and multifaceted portrait of Sweden’s northernmost county and its journey into the 21st century. The dialogue between the two photographic works is as compelling as each of the works themselves. Curated by Jan-Erik Lundström.
Living matter. Per Isak Juuso’s art highlights how duodji is an aesthetic method, knowledge, material and worldview. How duodji objects – their form and function, their place in everyday life and in the universe – carve out the path of life and ensure spiritual and physical survival. With their sensual pulse and material precision, Per Isak Juuso’s works open up all dimensions of these fundamentally simple objects. The cosmos housed in a set of everyday objects made of wood and bone.
Floor 4B.
“Cooperation with the following actors is prohibited: (…) Pikene på Broen (…)”. In December 2022, the Ministry of Culture in Murmansk sent out a letter prohibiting Pikene på Broen, among others, from being a partner. The chapter Border Echoes brings together artworks from the current changing times and asks: can art still find openings where borders are closed? Participants: Aleksander Florensky, Mark Roberts & Minna Rainio, Irene Rasmussen, Tine Surel Lange & Pavlo Grazhdanskij, Alena Vlasova, Amund Sjølie Sveen. Curated by Pikene på Broen.
3 A.
Northern Sweden has often been portrayed as an exotic winter wonderland – endless snowfields, northern lights and reindeer – in pictures, posters and works of art. This romanticised view reflects a colonial perspective that has long characterised depictions of the region. Through archive material and artworks from the 20th century to the present day, Frozen Narratives: Norrbotten Beyond Exoticism shows how the image of Norrbotten as an untouched and isolated place has been formed – and how contemporary artists such as Anders Sunna, Anja & Tomas Örn, Annika Dahlsten & Markku Laakso are challenging it. What images do you carry with you of the ‘Nordic region’? Curated by Silvia Colombo and assistant curator Ana Victoria Bruno.
Floor 3A.
From the Mountains to the Sea – Many rivers have been flooded and prevented from flowing freely through the territory to which they are so closely connected. Through works by Helena Adolfsson, Jenni Laiti, Mia Rogersdotter Gran and the artist duo David Larsson & Jens Strandberg, we follow the river on its journey from the mountains to the sea. Curated by Mariangela Mendez Prencke.
Floor 3B.
Back to the Land of the Future. Norrland, in the Euro-Arctic region, which makes up two-thirds of Sweden’s land area, has been seen since the 18th century as the great untamed wilderness, a storehouse of natural resources where exploitation by the early forestry industry, iron ore mining (1888) and hydroelectric power plants (1910) has contributed to Sweden’s industrial development. Now, attention is turning back to the north, with plans for record-fast exploitation of Norrland’s natural resources through the so-called green transition. Once again, an image is being created of a future land where people, businesses and wealth will multiply for all. The artworks by Johannes Samuelsson, Mia Rogersdotter Gran, Theres K. Agdler and Jens Strandberg provide some glimpses of how this transformation process is being received by those who live and work in the region. Curated by Mariangela Mendez Prencke.
Floor 2A.
Land Relations – Stories about the use of land, the country, the earth and natural resources; visions and representations of exploitation, transformation and extraction during the Anthropocene, seen through razor-sharp aesthetic prisms. Britta Marakatt-Labba’s accomplished embroidery art highlights the consequences of extractivism, shows nature’s vulnerability and resilience, and calls on goddesses and spirits to resist and gain insight. Erik Holmstedt takes us on the kind of journey through time that only the photographic image can accomplish, sharing more than half a century of incisive observations and insights from the emergence, life and decline of a mining community. Magnus Fredriksson & Johan Sandström’s film Uppfostrade bärare (Raised Carriers) takes the viewer back to some of the starting points of colonisation and something of the ground zero of the Norrbotten technological mega-system. Curated by Jan-Erik Lundström and Mariangela Mendez Prencke.
Floor 1A.
Naming, mapping, navigating. Place names define and redefine the country. Every map generates its own territory. Just as your journey reshapes and creates your reality. Hans Ragnar Mathisen’s extensive map production recaptures and recreates Sápmi – beyond and beyond colonisation and conquest – in all its multifaceted and nuanced reality, with nature and culture inextricably intertwined. Interprt visualises and maps the reindeer’s route choices and the topography of the migration routes in resistance to the occupation of the electricity industry. Karin Keisu & Josse Thuresson reclaim Tornedal identity and fill in the blank spots and exclusions in the nation’s maps. Lisbeth Kielatis merges aesthetic practice with material power and function in objects to take along on the journey. Curated by Jan-Erik Lundström.
In connection with the celebration of Havremagasinet’s 15th anniversary, Havremagasinet’s permanent Art Collection will also be presented. The collection includes works by Carola Grahn, Anders Sunna, Breeze Yoko and Fabian Linna, Linda Tedsdotter with Apocalypse Insurance Garden, Frihetsförmedlingen’s permanent office and the new acquisition Språket, skammen, skrattet – kieli, häpeä, naura (the language, the shame, the laughter) by Lena Ylipää.
