Living Questions for a Place in Transition
2026

Pre-study by Gülbeden Kulbay, Reyhaneh Mirjahani, Elsa Gomis

Commissioned by Konstnärcentrum Öst–KnowHow, in collaboration with the City of Uppsala

Living Questions for a Place in Transition is a pre-study structured as a conceptual mapping of key questions for future public art, focusing on the long-term transformation of the Sydöstra stadsdelarna (SÖS) area in southern Uppsala. Rather than producing a finished artwork, the project positions artistic research as a way to map the critical questions that emerge in large-scale urban, social, and ecological change. Through site-based inquiry and expert conversations, the project identifies key tensions, uncertainties, and blind spots within the development process that are often difficult to register through planning tools alone. The outcome is a structured framework and toolkit that translates complexity into a set of guiding questions for future public art, emphasizing the artist’s role in society as a producer of inquiry, reflection, and critical perspective within processes of urban transformation.