Addressing the Northern Geography in Major Exhibition

The group exhibition The Land of the Future for 15 1/2 chapters places "art in the center as the heart, testimony and companion for reflections around the northern geography in a time of extensive change," according to the Oats Warehouse. (Photo: Mats Engfors/Havremagasinet)

Published at: Jun 16 2025 - 15:44 / Updated at: Jun 16 2025 - 15:51

The art gallery Havremagasinet in Northern Sweden has filled a whopping 3600 square meters with art created by various artists from the High North. The works offer diverse views of the northern land of the future.

Text Astri Edvardsen

Translation Birgitte Annie Hansen

Les på norsk.

At the end of May, the regional art gallery Havremagasinet in Boden, Northern Sweden, opened its doors for the celebratory exhibition The Land of the Future for 15 and 1/2 Chapters.

Havremagasinet, which once was used by the Swedish Armed Forces to store oats and grain for horses, celebrates its 15th anniversary by highlighting the complex region and history of which the art venue is part of.

The exhibition is divided into 15 different chapters and includes contributions from over 45 artists. The majority comes from the northern parts of Sweden, Norway, and Finland, in addition to Russia.

Mariangela Méndez Prencke, director of Havremagasinet art gallery. (Photo: Havremagasinet)

"We focus on the northern geography – primarily Norrland, but also the Barents region or the Euro-Arctic region. Some of the local themes are global and vice versa, and throughout Havremagasinet's history we have strived to find these connections," says Mariangela Méndez Prencke, Director of Havremagasinet, to High North News.

"The exhibition also arises from a cooperation with curators, colleagues, and institutions for visual arts who continuously work to bring art from this northern geography to both a local and international audience. In other words, this is not just Havremagasinet's vision of this region, but theirs as well," she states.

Publikummere på vernissasje betrakter verkene til Jaakko Heikkilä i kapittelet ‘Grenselandet’: River og Jesus Stands on the Other Side. Heikkiläs fotografier forteller om Torneälven og folk som bor på begge sider av den. Elven renner fra Nord-Sverige og danner i sørøst grense til Finland før den munner ut i Bottenviken. (Foto: Mats Engfors/Havremagasinet)

Long lines

What does the title and framework 'Land of the Future' entail?

"The starting point is that Norrland, the northernmost part of Sweden, has been depicted as a land of abundance – a northern paradise with infinite resources – at least since the 1500s. The intellectual historian Sverker Sörlin's book Land of the Future from 1988 is still the foremost guide to both utopian and dystopian visions of Norrland," begins Prencke and continues:

"Sörlin writes about the priest Pehr Högström, among others, who was stationed in Skellefteå in the middle of the 1700s as a missionary in Sápmi, who considered Norrland as the promised land. He claimed that there was a 'richness of metals so great that it had never before been found outside of the Orient.'"

"This again echoes the words of the governor Carl Bonde in 1635: in a colonial fantasy, he stated that ‘the North will become a Swedish West Indies with God's help.'"

The idea of Norrland as a land of the future, an untapped wilderness, also arose in the 1800s, says the director. Several establishments emerged within logging and mining, and a large-scale development of hydroelectric power plants followed in the 1900s.

PHOTO GALLERY: Annika Dahlsten and Marrku Laakso's work Campfire in a Zoo – Dolasdallas ealligárddis (2019). The work is part of the chapter 'Frozen stories: Norrbotten beyond exoticism,' which questions the colonial and romanticized perspective that has long characterized depictions of the region. (Photo: Markku Laakso) >

Erik Holmsted's photo series depicts the rise, life journey, and fall of a Northern Swedish mining community in the chapter 'Ground Conditions'. The work to the left is titled Malmberget, Gropen (1969). (Photo: Mats Engfors/Havremagasinet) >

Theres K. Agdler's work, You are Digging into Our Roots (2025). This is part of the chapter 'Back to the Land of the Future,' portraying glimpses of how news industrial projects in Norrland are received by the people living in the region. Here, Sweden's Minister of Energy and Industry Ebba Busch appears with the quote "I hope more Swedes will feel: I want a mine in my backyard." (Press photo) >

David Larsson and Jens Strandberg's Face Mist (2023), also in the chapter 'Back to the Land of the Future.' The work adresses a face spray made with industrial wastewater from the Hybrit project for fossil-free steel production in northern Sweden. (Press image) >

Asking the Salmon to Return is created by Jenni Laiti. It is part of the chapter 'From the Mountain to the Ocean,' which focuses on rivers being prevented from flowing freely and being flooded. (Press photo) >

Tommy Tommie's work, Can Sweden Manage Without Norrbotten?, portrays an eventful 1970s, marked by development and dissolution, traditions and innovations, landscapes that transform, disappear, and endure, as well as people in everyday life and at parties. The work is part of the chapter 'Botanic Stories'. (Press image)

Central again in stories of the future

"Now, eyes are once again on the North with major industrial projects in Kiruna, Gällivare, Boden, Luleå, and Skellefteå," Prencke points out.

"All of these are linked to a new and extensive use of Norrland's natural resources within the framework of the so-called green shift, but also resource utilization in the Arctic. Therefore, the image of Norrland as a land of the future emerges once again – a place where resources and opportunities will create a better future for the rest of the country."

The exhibition's 15 chapters reveal various stories and perspectives on this development. At the same time, not all of the art pieces revolve around the exploitation of natural resources and industry, emphasizes Prencke, who has curated several of the chapters.

"Some of the works also convey the value in nature as it is, and in the various cultures that have lived and continue to live in this northern geography. They also depict the different languages, textile crafts, and duodji, which are a fundamental part of the region's immeasurable riches."

Havremagasinet presents the exhibition until October 12th.