The artist James Webb starts a radio channel partly ghost story, partly architectural analysis of the area; if you can access the signal, then the message is for you.

A radio signal beams a voice, sometimes two voices, that speak a stream of thoughts and observations about the suburb of Hökarängen. The stories seem to indicate that these voices are an expression of a presence, a ghost or a nature spirit, - someone or something that is intimately connected to the place - possibly contained within the 1940s and 1950s neighbourhood planning in the area, or from much earlier, when Hökarängen was a rough pathway through inhospitable swamps.

As an FM broadcast, the artwork will be present throughout the suburb: in the streets, parks, and courtyards, and seeping into the houses, schools, and surrounding woods. If you are in the area you can tune in to 98.1FM to listen. 

If you are able to visit Konsthall C you are welcome to experience the piece there or, alternatively, borrow a portable radio from the gallery and follow outside for as long as the transmission reaches. Conceived as part ghost-story, part speculative, architectural analysis of the area; if you can access the signal, then the message concerns you.

This untitled radio broadcast forms part of Sånger till Hökarängen (Songs to Hökarängen), a series of interventions in the neighbourhood of Hökarängen produced with Konsthall C.

Other artworks and program events that will unfold during spring include a self-published, pirated reader flirting with themes of sonic fantasy, bodily interruption, and earning attention; a communal silent walk through the town; group listening evenings; and written proposals for future artworks in the area printed as A5 flyers and distributed throughout the suburb.

Reader
James Webb has compiled an annotated reader. The philosophical writings, poems, playlists, and associative images flirt with themes of sonic fantasy, bodily interruption, and earning attention. Visual design by Lars Høie. Come and join us at Konsthall C 13:00 on the 2nd of April.

Listening evenings

Like a sonic book club, in our listening evenings, you are invited to bring a piece of recorded music / sound to listen to together as a group and then discuss it. Each session has a theme, and the participants are asked to select a track that responds to that theme. Your responses to the theme can be as abstract and associative as you wish.

Over the course of the evening, each participant will present their selected piece with a short introduction, and afterwards we will discuss the pieces. Fika will be served.

Tuesday, 29 March, 18:00: theme of “Sympathy”

Tuesday, 5 April, 18:00: theme of “Transformation”

Booking essential. Please email info@konsthallc.se to register your interest and to book a date. You will be contacted about the piece of music you wish to share so we can prepare the evening’s playlist.

Upcoming (dates to be confirmed)

Silent walk
Join us for a silent walk through Hökarängen. Participants will meet at the Konsthall and enjoy an hour of quiet strolling through the area. Fika served afterwards.

Meditation in Hökarängen
An introduction to meditation will be held at Konsthall C and, weather permitting, in the courtyards in the area. Join us for a tranquil hour of listening inwards, learning, and becoming aware together. Fika served afterwards. 

Flyers
Proposals for future artworks made in and for Hökarängen will be distributed in and around the suburb.

James Webb is a conceptual artist known for his site-specific interventions and installations. His practice often involves sound, found objects, and text, invoking references to literature, cinema, and minimalist traditions. By shifting objects, techniques, and forms beyond their original contexts and introducing them to different environments, Webb creates new spaces of tension. These spaces link together Webb’s academic back­ground in religion, theatre, and advertising, offering po­etic inquiries into the economies of belief and dynamics of communication in our contemporary world.

About the project Sånger till Hökarängen (Songs to Hökarängen)
Hökarängen can be seen as a result of planning ideas from the 1940s, these saw the neighbourhood as the social ideal for creating a sense of belonging in society. Hökarängen belongs to the so-called architectural neighbourhood units, which means that the area is planned and built to promote the development of a  "democratic person".

Urban theorists describe how the planners built suburbs where the inhabitants would be surrounded by nature to reduce the big city's growing problems with alienation and loneliness. Songs to Hökarängen is a project that asks itself how a neighbourhood can rediscover hidden public spaces where subjective experiences can be shared collectively? Many of Hökarängen's courtyards are laid out to resemble a forest, and it is in these artificial forest environments that Konsthall C invites artists and musicians to explore.

During two years, we will present works that speak to the area's history and the contemporary need to develop how we think about the common. Our hope is to offer experiences that are loaded with unresolved stories, subjective dreams, deep listening and societal visions.

98.1 FM (only in the Hökarängen area) 19 March - 1 April 2022
Voices: Lina Kinning, Ingrid Kinning
Writer: Louis Viljoen
English to Swedish Translations: Lina Kinning, Madelen Strahner
Coordinator: Lisa Devgun
Research into Hökarängen was greatly assisted by Anneli Forsberg
Radio licence granted by PTS
Curator: Ulrika Flink