What?
Across the strait is an art and IoT project with the aim of creating networks and increased exposure for creators in the cultural sector on both sides of the strait. The project will together create a cultural and technical lighting installation for residents and tourists in Elsinore and Helsingborg during the spring and summer of 2022.
The purpose is to bring the viewers of the installation closer together, both within and between the two cities. This is done with the help of a group of artists and designers from both Sweden and Denmark. The artists will use IoT as a method to create a connection between Helsingborg and Helsingör. The connection can be digital, physical or by other methods. The lighting installation will tell and measure how the inhabitants of both cities feel. The mood of cities will be measured using so-called IoT sensors that measure air pressure, temperature, humidity, particulate pollution and noise levels.
The Danish artist group designs the sensors and connects them in a network that continuously investigates what is happening in the Elsinore and Helsingborg area. They also do a web application that examines the mood of the residents and they also examine what happens on social media in both cities. In addition, the web application shows data collected from sensors, which provides an insight into the health and mood of the local area. The Swedish artist group is working on designing the installation that will illustrate the data collected. They are based on various organic forms inspired by nature - especially geological formations.
To collect data, the artists will enlist the help of children and young people in association life in both cities. They will focus on scouts and the Artists will teach how the censors work and how to handle them. They want to spread information and curiosity about the relationship between art and technology, but also about how data management can democratize our contemporary and future society.
Within the city of Helsingborg, the project is a cross-border collaboration between the various administrations KF, SBF and SLF. The responsible project owner is SLF with the support of the other administrations.
Why?
Across the strait is an internationalization project. Both Helsingborg and Helsingör experience that entrepreneurs in the cultural sector find it difficult to develop new innovative ideas that have the potential to grow and be noticed on an international stage. The best ideas are usually only realized at the local level - in this case either in Elsinore or in Helsingborg. The two cities want to improve the opportunities for artistic innovation and entrepreneurship in the cultural sector - across the strait.
The project collaborates across administrative boundaries within the city of Helsingborg to jointly run a project whose theme (IoT, art and entrepreneurship) concerns all three administrations and its development. All administrations have their own organizational structures and their own cultures. Running a collaboration between them challenges the city's overall structure and sheds light on how we can collaborate even better within our organization. This takes place at both a strategic and operational level and gives the City of Helsingborg new experiences and tools for jointly creating and running projects across administrative boundaries. The collaboration benefits the residents of Helsingborg as new perspectives and solutions are often created when several perspectives are merged and developed.
How?
The solution is to co - coordinate two exhibitions in both cities together with the artists and officials from both cities through workshops. Working together to develop a lighting installation and an exhibition production, both at a local and international level. The exhibition production will include the artists teaching the borderland between art and technology as well as data management via workshops for children and young people in both cities.
The project offers artists an insight into both the artistic sector in Helsingborg and Helsingör. The artists work closely together and teach each other in-depth knowledge regarding advanced IoT solutions and artistic design. Together, they create an installation that is created with the inhabitants of both cities and their interaction. Across the strait teaches data management and the space between art and technology to children and young people in Helsingborg and Helsingör. The combination of different perspectives and approaches in the project provides better conditions for the artists to develop both their entrepreneurship and artistic innovation.