Swedish red elephant residency

Linnaeus residency programme

Each year, Linnaeus University invites nationally and internationally active artists from various disciplines to engage in interdisciplinary collaborations with university researchers through the Linnaeus Residency Programme. The complex and intertwined challenges of our time serve as a starting point for the questions, themes, and methods explored within the residency. Through mutual exploration and dialogue between different knowledge cultures, researchers and artists gain opportunities for unexpected perspectives that can foster cross-pollination, visibility, and transformative potential.

The Linnaeus Residency Programme focuses on interaction and collaboration between artists and the university’s research and education over a period of 4–8 weeks within a calendar year, offering space for individually tailored work and project development.

The programme, which both announces open calls and extends invitations, provides an artist’s fee, travel, accommodation, workspace, production funds, and process support. Participants are offered access to mentorship and public engagement opportunities, including presentations and a process/sketch exhibition at the university. Residents are invited to become part of a broad community of researchers, students, teachers, cultural practitioners, and social developers within the university and in collaboration with partner organizations in Småland and across Sweden.

The Linnaeus Residency Programme is run by The Cultural University, a part of the University Library. The Cultural University is a platform for arts and culture that encourages interdisciplinary collaborations through critical and creative dialogues and cultural experiences. Its primary mission is to enhance the interaction between culture and the university’s core activities in research, education, and collaboration.

Current

Brandon Labelle Live

Brandon LaBelle (US) - May 2025 - May 2026

Brandon LaBelle (USA) is an artist, writer and theorist whose work explores agency, community, pirate culture and poetry. During his residency at Linnaeus University (May 2025–May 2026), he will lead the seminar series The Pirate Academy – a collaborative space for critical thinking and artistic knowledge-making. The series combines lectures, artistic practices and participatory activities such as listening, drawing, walking and sharing, aiming to inspire reflection and dialogue.

Brandon LaBelle will also collaborate with researchers in the Knowledge Environment Sustainable Health through a workshop on The Listening Effect, as part of the Rock Your Research project. Student workshops for the Nursing Programme are planned for spring 2026.
 
Read more about the residency and Brandon Labelle here.
 
people holding up hands

Ungovernable (US/SE) August 2025 - November 2027

Ungovernable (USA/Sweden) is an artistic project by Caitlin Nasema Cassidy and Helene Larsson Pousette, in collaboration with dramaturg Robert Duffley. During its residency at Linnaeus University (August 2025–November 2027), the project explores archival research, autobiographical performance and strategies for collective action. Ungovernable is a participatory performance about resistance and agency in uncertain times.
The project partners with Regionteatern Blekinge Kronoberg, Elin Wägner’s Lilla Björka, and the Erasmus+ initiative Rock Your Research, and will tour internationally in 2027.

Read more about the residency and Ungovernable here

 

Image of Napoleon Maddox

Napoleon Maddox (US/FR) November 2025 - November 2026

Napoleon Maddox (USA/France) is a writer, musician, visual artist and educator. During his residency at Linnaeus University (November 2025–November 2026), he will collaborate with researchers in colonial and postcolonial studies, engage with students from different disciplines, and work with cultural organisations and artists in Småland.

Grounded in historical research, oral storytelling and social engagement, Maddox explores artistic methods to examine the human consequences of colonialism and imperial expansion. Through performances, workshops and creative conversations, the residency aims to create shared spaces for critical reflection on history, power and resistance, while opening new perspectives at the intersection of art, research and education.
 
 

Previous

Brita Björs 

What does it mean for a university to carry the name of a historical figure? Is Linnæus for us a person or an idea? At Linnaeus University, we have been working with these questions in different ways. In autumn 2024, we invited folk musician Brita Björs to interpret them in her own way. Drawing inspiration from the university’s collections and researchers, she explores Carl Linnaeus’s legacy. The residency will end with a live performance and a Linnæus Talk on 30 January 2025.
 
Brita Björs is a singer, musician, composer and stage artist. She works with Swedish and American folk music traditions, blending them into music and performance art. Her recent projects include 1 km musik, the solo show Folkmusikens Queen B, and the bluegrass quartet Happy Heartaches.
 
Brita trained at the Folk Music Department of Malmö Academy of Music and was awarded Artist of the Year at the Folk & World Music Gala in 2020.
Brita Björs
Brita Björs. Photo: Max Tellving

Susanne Nordqvist, Jan Magnusson, Mikael Wallmark

Jan 2023 – dec 2023

Sustainable management of the planet’s water resources is one of today’s greatest challenges. The Water knowledge environment aims to tackle this by sharing insights on how to create and care for healthy water ecosystems.
As part of this initiative, authors Susanne Nordqvist and Jan Magnusson teamed up with illustrator Mikael Wallmark to develop a children’s book that introduces young readers to the importance of water and sustainability.
Susanne Nordqvist
Susanne Nordqvist
Jan Magnusson
Jan Magnusson
Mikael Wallmark
Mikael Wallmark

Om kunskapsmiljö Linné - Vatten
Att hantera jordens vattenresurser på ett hållbart sätt är en stor utmaning. Syftet med kunskapsmiljön Vatten är att möta denna samhällsutmaning genom att samla och sprida den kunskap som krävs för att förstå hur vi bäst skapar och förvaltar en hälsosam vattenmiljö.

Läs mer om kunskapsmiljön Vatten

Swedish red elephant
Lanna Olsson

Swedish red elephant

Nov 2022 – mars 2023

The artist duo Swedish Red Elephant, Louise Lindenger and Håkan Persson, joined forces with Linnaeus University’s knowledge environment A Questioned Democracy, headed by Professor Magnus Hagevi. Their residency focused on the challenges facing democracy today. Drawing inspiration from ongoing research, the artists created a musical interpretation that reflects these pressing issues.
 

About Linnaeus Knowledge Environment: A Questioned Democracy

Today, the free world is facing its most significant challenge since the fall of the Berlin Wall: the growing doubts about liberal democracy. This knowledge environment aims to respond to that challenge by safeguarding one of humanity’s most important achievements – democracy itself.
Read more about Linnaeus Knowledge Environment: Democracy in Question
 
Åskar Lilja

Åskar Lilja

Nov 2022- dec 2023

Artist Åskar Lilja is working with researchers from Linnaeus University’s knowledge environment Sustainable Health in the project Illustrated Societal Challenges. The aim is to explore what it takes to achieve good health for everyone today. During the residency, Åskar will turn research findings into art – resulting in a graphic novel and an exhibition.
 
As Åskar describes it:
From the dark days of November 2022 until brighter times ahead, I’ll gather material through conversations with researchers, discussions with friends and critics, and some unusual, playful investigations – all leading to the creation of a comic art book and an exhibition.
 
About Linnaeus Knowledge Environment: Sustainable Health
Ensuring good health for everyone today means tackling major challenges such as demographic shifts, active citizen participation, changing patterns of illness, traumatic events and effective organisation. This knowledge environment works to address these issues and promote health and well-being for people of all ages.
 
Amanda Selinder
Anders Elverhøy

Amanda Selinder

Nov 2022 – oct 2023

Artist Amanda Selinder joined forces with Linnaeus University’s knowledge environment Advanced Materials, headed by Associate Professor Per Nilsson. Her residency explored research on creating new materials with enhanced qualities and greater sustainability, transforming these ideas into an artistic interpretation. The work was showcased at the exhibition Ear to the Ground and Eyes Looking Out at Kalmar Art Museum (27 May – 1 October 2023), part of the Småland Triennial.
 
About Linnaeus Knowledge Environment: Advanced Materials
To tackle today’s and tomorrow’s challenges in energy, resource management, healthcare and food production, we need innovative materials. This research environment focuses on developing sustainable and functional materials designed for the future.
 
Image of the two women who founded Madam Snickeri

Madam snickeri med Tack skogen 2.0

Dec 2020-dec 2021

The project Thank You Forest 2.0 is inspired by the experience of using wood collected directly from the forest, rather than processed through the timber industry. This kind of wood often carries marks of its natural history – like a cherry tree with striking purple streaks caused by old nails. Such unique features are usually discarded early in industrial processing and seldom make it to artisans or consumers.

Madam Snickeri

Madam Snickeri is run by Marie Carlsson, a furniture maker and découpeur, and Magdalena Marano, a furniture conservator.

The duo met while studying at Carl Malmsten and founded MADAM Snickeri & Restaurering in 2013, just a year after graduating. Their work spans a variety of projects and clients, always guided by a commitment to sustainability. Based in the scenic area of Sankt Anna, their workshop is not only a creative hub but also a way to contribute to the local community. Combining deep material expertise, craftsmanship and creativity, they explore sustainable possibilities in every project.

 

Christina Zetterlund

Find out more about Christina and her research on her personal page via this link

 

Jan Carleklev

Jan Carleklev, Ironwomen Soundrun

March 2021-dec 2021

This project brings together sound artist Jan Carleklev and researcher Patrick Bergman to turn scientific data into art. Using Bergman’s measurements of acceleration in running, Carleklev creates sound compositions that illustrate movement and activity. The results will be used as teaching and research material and presented in an exhibition.

Jan Carleklev’s work focuses on listening – and finding new ways to listen. He often uses digital tools such as sensors and microprocessors to create interactive sound experiences. In this project, his goal is to make research data accessible and engaging for audiences inside and outside academia. The final artwork will transform numbers and diagrams into an immersive experience, offering new perspectives on physical activity.

 

About Jan Carleklev

Jan holds a master’s degree from Konstfack and has a background as a composer and musician, touring internationally with music and performance art. Today, he works primarily with sound, creating multisensory installations and participatory projects that explore our relationship to the world and ourselves.

About Patrick Bergman

 
Anna Ekman
Cecilia Järdemar

 

Anna Ekman and Cecilia Järdemar – Les Archives Suedoises

October 2018 – March 2019

This project began with historic photographs from Swedish missionary work in Congo in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
 
The artists examined how these journeys shaped Sweden’s view of Africa and, in turn, our own identity in relation to the world. They connected memories from the Småland landscape with glass plate photographs from Congo, creating a dialogue between past and present.
 
Working with the research group Lnuc Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies, they engaged with researchers and students to share ideas and explore creative processes. The project culminated in an exhibition at Kalmar Art Museum in summer 2019, accompanied by a published book.

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