Love Antell latest XR work is an archive of memories for Östra Ramlösa, a pastoral oasis outside Helsingborg, Sweden that will soon turn into one of the cities largest urban development projects. The artwork functions as a time capsule for a changing landscape, and will stay the same over 10 years time.
Digital technology and virtual art are often seen as ephemeral, fleeting experiences, gone in the blink of an eye, while the surrounding tactile reality is static and permanent. In Antell's work, this relationship is turned on its head. Kartan och landskapet will stay the same for 10 years or more, while the nature around it will be turned into a construction site before growing into a new urban centre. The muddy fields and the lush hedgerows will slowly but steadily transform into large apartment houses, shops, cafes, bars and playing children, with Antell's the only permanent fixture of the place.
Antell spent weeks at the site interviewing locals, poring over old maps and studying the area to amass materials for the artwork. Walking through the experience, you encounter countless of audio clips, videos, archival images, and recent photographs that populate the surroundings, an archive come alive and roaming the landscape. Among those interviewed, a local farmer laments the loss of productive land, an old architect offers his cautious advice to the urban planners, while a young boy is filled with excitement at a new place to live and play.
Despite the sophisticated technical requirements - spatial audio, location-based triggers, and archival media integration - the project was delivered for 60,000 SEK using Meadow's platform, demonstrating how accessible tools can enable ambitious artistic visions without prohibitive development costs.
Drawing on his background as a musician, Antell composed a soundtrack performed by a string quartet featuring members of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. The composition is woven into the landscape itself - individual musical parts are spatially arranged throughout the site, revealing itself as visitors walk through the space. Watch the video below to hear some of it, it's beautiful.
To integrate art early in the urban planning process helps is in creating places that are both functional and inspiring. Art can create a more human and inclusive environment where everyone, especially children and families, can thrive. Art has a tendency to be included late in the process, but here we choose to do the opposite and let art lead the way from the start.
- Johanna Elgström, landscape architect at Helsingborg city
This project was realised with a total development budget of 60 000 SEK, far lower than the usual price tag of 300 000 for a permanent virtual artwork.
We are very happy to see Meadow enable such a critical urban intervention, and grateful to the city of Helsingborgs stad for being ever at the forefront of exploring new technologies.
