The Cultural University

The Cultural University is a vibrant hub where art, culture, and science meet. Our goal is to strengthen the link between culture and the university’s core mission – research, education, and collaboration.

By fostering interdisciplinary partnerships, creative spaces, and innovative ways to share research, we help bring Linnaeus University’s vision to life: an open, critical, and cross-disciplinary approach to knowledge.

Here, researchers and cultural practitioners connect through dialogues, projects, and cultural experiences based on engagement, inclusion, and mutual respect – sharing and developing stories and practices together.

Our Four Focus Areas

1. Experiences that Engage and Inspire

Through artist residencies, creative projects, and cultural productions, we bring sensory experiences to students, staff, and the public—while showcasing education and research in new ways.

2. Spaces for Dialogue and Ideas

We create forums for critical and creative conversations that strengthen democratic dialogue and connect diverse ways of knowing.

3. Art in Everyday Spaces

We make shared spaces richer and more vibrant by integrating art across the university, in collaboration with partners who help care for and develop these works.

4. Collaborating Through Culture

We work to make cultural expression a vital part of knowledge creation and act as a trusted advisor and partner in art and culture—both on campus and in the wider community.

Exhibition Spaces

Our exhibition spaces offer sensory experiences for students, staff and visitors, while highlighting education and research at Linnaeus University.

Through our projects, we work with researchers and artists to make science more approachable, encourage interaction and share knowledge.

At the Knowledge Cube exhibition space (Växjö University Library, Floor 1, and the Vita building in Kalmar, Floor 2), we showcase two collaborative projects each year, often alongside events or as part of the Linnaeus Residency Programme.

In the University Library’s exhibition areas (the indoor terrace on Floor 3 in Växjö, accessible from Floor 2, and Floor 2 in Kalmar), researchers and students present their own works and projects, where art and research come together, supported by The Cultural University.

Exhibition Spaces The University Library Kalmar

Visitors stand in an exhibition hall with wooden floors. Black-and-white photographs and a green information poster are displayed on the wall.

A major photo exhibition showcases vibrant colour portraits of people in work clothes. A yellow ladder is positioned in front of the photographs. The space features wooden floors and a ceiling fitted with spotlights.

Exhibition spaces The University Library Växjö

Visitors observe a wall covered with photographs, notes and colourful Post-its, linked by blue arrows showing relationships. In the foreground, a round table displays small signs.

A person stands before a wall covered with numerous small black-and-white notes arranged in a neat grid. To the left, a ladder can be seen, and beside the wall a small table holds an information sign.

Knowledge Cube exhibition space in Kalmar

Several visitors are inside the Knowledge Cube, surrounded by black walls. Chains, photographs and an orange rescue suit hang on the walls, while a glass display case with various objects is positioned in the foreground.

Visitors gather around a small round table displaying books in an exhibition space. A chain hangs above the table, and in the background, black walls feature text and images.

Two visitors view a large portrait of a person in reflective workwear and a helmet, displayed on a black wall in an exhibition space with wooden floors.

Knowledge Cube exhibition space in Växjö

Visitors exploring the Earth Logic Design Agency exhibition.

The black, cube-shaped Kunskapskuben features text and yellow circles on its walls. A vibrant painting adorns the exterior, while a screen inside plays a video.

A visitor with headphones watches a video on a screen in a dimly lit exhibition corner. Shelves filled with books and brochures line the wall behind.

OmniSpace

OmniSpace is an open and flexible area at Linnaeus University Library in Kalmar and Växjö, where researchers, teachers and external guests can share their work through open lectures, presentations and workshops. The space is accessible to everyone and aims to make the university’s research and education visible to a wider audience.

Book OmniSpace

Staff at Linnaeus University can book OmniSpace for an open lecture or presentation to showcase, for example, research material. In Kalmar, OmniSpace is located in the entrance hall of the Stella building at Campus Kalmar, and in Växjö on the entrance floor of the University Library.

Booking request – OmniSpace, Kalmar and Växjö

Practical information

OmniSpace can be used for open lectures, workshops, presentations and similar activities. The message and content must align with the university’s research and education. Material displayed at OmniSpace should come from Linnaeus University. Furniture orders are placed through the respective caretaker’s office.

Linnaeus University reserves the right to refuse content/lectures if it is deemed likely to cause serious disruption or violate the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights or Swedish law. OmniSpace can be booked during term time and during the University Library’s opening hours.

Guidelines

The event should be open to everyone
It must be alcohol- and drug-free
It must be free of charge
No external companies/brands
No commercial purpose
Organisers/speakers must respect regular visitors to Linnaeus University
The Cultural University reserves the right, in exceptional cases, to postpone or cancel a lecture.

Calendar

Image above: The exhibition “Arctic – Stories from the Edge of the Ice” will be on display at Linnaeus University in Växjö and Kalmar from 26 November 2025 to 7 June 2026. “Metalley” Ida Rödén, 2023.

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