Maretopia

Maretopia was started in 2015 by Jens Evaldsson as a further development of the art group Mare Liberum from 2013. Maretopia is run by a loose group of members from different fields — artists, researchers, architects, curators, engineers and other enthusiasts — with a shared vision of creating a place for art on the water in Stockholm that is open to the public, in contact with locally rooted organisations, and that promotes sustainability and environmental improvement in an urban context. The spring of 2015 began with a collaboration with Konstfack's department of interior architecture and furniture design. The students recycled some of the earlier rafts into exciting new forms and also created two small islands with water-purifying plants.

In 2015 Maretopia took part in the exhibition Experiment Stockholm, where the rafts were activated in the bay in front of Färgfabriken by inviting 7 artists to perform or give talks on the rafts and exhibit in the art hall. Curated by Kristina Lindemann and Jens Evaldsson.

In the summer of 2016 Maretopia exhibited in Karlstad in collaboration with Konstfrämjandet Värmland in the project WRA, Water Research Area. Taking Karlstad's relationship to water as a starting point, and with climate change and disaster research in mind, curator Kristina Lindemann invited the Hägersten Botanical Garden and the artists Hanna Ljungh and Peter Ojstersek. We asked the artists to reflect on the question of control in relation to climate change. We have celebrated a marsh evening, held a public conversation about leakage as a resource with Hanna Ljungh, and created a place where the people of Karlstad could themselves take part in, or reflect on, food cultivation and self-sufficiency. We also held conversations with the researcher Lena Grip and the landscape architect Shira Jacobs. In the summer of 2016 Maretopia held two film festivals on the water in Stockholm: an evening of experimental short film with floating narratives, and an art cinema in collaboration with Café Cul de Sac. See more at https://maretopiaorg.wixsite.com/info