Ruben Östlund & Kalle Boman

Director Ruben Östlund and producer Kalle Boman are Sweden's leading filmmakers. At Vandalorum they collaborate for the first time in exhibition form. Östlund has appeared in films such as The involuntary, Plays and Tourist Exploring the shortcomings of man. In his next feature film The Square, to which this exhibition is a preliminary study, he wants to investigate the trust we have in each other. He asks himself where the responsibility of the state ends and where the individual begins.

Through the project The Square Östlund and Boman want to try out in practice what would happen if each Swedish locality had a human free zone right in the centre - a symbol-laden physical square in the square, as obvious as a pedestrian crossing. In The Square common rights and obligations shall prevail. Anyone can stand there when they need help - and passers-by have a duty to try to help. In connection with the opening of this exhibition, the first Rutan is inaugurated on the Flanaden square in Värnamo.

Östlund and Boman are happy to develop their ideas in dialogue with others. The exhibition is an invitation to all visitors to participate in that dialogue. There are also conversations with other artists, from those who made handprints in the El Castillo cave some 40,000 years ago, via Garry Winogrand, who photographed the hectic urban life of New York in the mid-20th century, to Malin Holmberg, who created a monumental painting of the supercontinent Pangea for the exhibition.

Thanks to Region Jönköping County, Värnamo Municipality, Staffningsproffsen, Göteborgs City Airport, Four Points, Kährs & Winsth Flooring & Tiles, RL Gruppen, Värnamo Business Association, Värnamo City, Netmine, Nevotex, Värnamo Näringsliv.

^{Photo: John Nelander}