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“Department of Unexpected Measures” (Avdelningen för oväntade åtgärder) was a network of employees at Mittuniversitetet who created small-scale artworks in their work environments. In practice, the activities were structured as a newsletter where participants were given a task each week for over a ten-week period.

To see the results of the project, see this PDF. (In Swedish)

The daily workday for researchers and teachers is largely characterized by administrative tasks performed in a digital environment. University employees share this situation with most employees of the public sector. The technological development of recent decades has the possibility for greater control and detailed management. This means that important core values ​​in various activities, values ​​that are based on judgment and ethical responsibility, risk ending up further down the priority list. The possibility for speed and constant communication offered by digitalization also risks making everyday work fragmented and unfocused.

In order to provide space for reflection, promote long-term thinking, counteract political control and handle the downsides of digitalization, the “Department for Unexpected Measures” was therefore initiated.

Overall, “The Department of Unexpected Measures” aimed to create space for the participants to find increased room for action in everyday work, process frustration with different administrative systems and control methods, and challenge their own and others’ ideas about how creativity can take place within professional practice. The project’s small-scale artworks found their way into the work environment and became a series of employee-produced public art in micro format.

“The Department of Unexpected Measures” was Clara, Christina, Sara, Anna, Karin, Maja, Janani, Leif, Kajsa, Katarina, Mikael, Eva, Lena, Caroline, Karin.

“The Department for Unexpected Measures” was a joint art project between Mittuniversitetets Forum for Digitalization (Fodi), Forum for Gender Research (FGF) and John Huntington.

Image: Assignment 7: Place yourself in a confined space at work / performed and photographed by Kajsa.

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A mini performance festival at Skogen in Gothenburg 31 Oct – 1 Nov 2025, where the work “Övning i krympande för 20-40 personer” (Excercise in Shrinking or 20-40 people) will be performed.

Friday, 31 of October 18:00:
We shall never be strangers to each other by Mirja Timm
“Övning i krympande för 20-40 personer” av John Huntington & Sara Granér

Saturday 1 of November 18:00
XENO SARX by Last Oblivion
Object Agency – Are you ever disgusted by human breath? by Lisa Mårtensson

More information about the event and how to book a spot go to the Skogen website

The performance “Övning i krympande för 20-40 personer” is developed as part of RITE (rite.agency)

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The exhibition “System Care” (Systemvård) comprises experimental strategies from the alternative aspects of bureaucracy and the undercurrents of administration. Here, society’s pain spots and logical fallacies are addressed, based on the daily work of office workers and civil servants. New rituals and protective measures are presented that constitute persistent attempts to ward off powerlessness and ethical stress.

The works in the exhibition constitute small-scale, yet powerful, ceremonial acts presented in an educational video format, but also contain ritual artifacts in the form of objects, images and photos.

The exhibition is opening on October 18th and is up until November 2nd

As a prequel there is a performative lecture on Friday the 17th of October titled “Making secret files and other powerful practices.” The performance is about bureaucracy, creativity and resistance. With the office workplace as a starting point, the work addresses contemporary people’s heavy addiction to systematizing everything in their environment. The event includes a short practical exercise, for which each participant is asked to bring a printed text-based document from their current workplace (There will be extra documents for those who have forgotten). The work contains music by Jon Ekström/Dödsvarg and is 60 minutes long.

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More information about the exhibition space on the Ahlbergshallen website

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A new exhibition titled “Bankväsen och andra Livsformer” (Banking Systems and Other Life Forms) is opening on Sep 12 (17.00 – 20.00) at Galleri Cora Hillebrand in Gothenburg.

In the show, several new works are exhibited, including the five sculptures crafted from engraved animal skulls, each bearing a title from a major Swedish bank. It is also a premiere of the new video work “The Art of Shrinking Correctly” developed as part of the research platform RITE.

The exhibition text is written by Oscar Svanelid, you can read it here

The show is up until 5th of October

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More information: Galleri Cora Hillebrand

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Undercentralen (The Sub-Center) is a secret association of about thirty civil servants from various parts of Sweden. For more than a year, the network has made artistic interventions in their workplaces. Small-scale creative acts of resistance have been carried out to process, for example, feelings of frustration and loss of meaning – in a way that is both playful and inclusive.

Undercentralen is populated by those who feel that something is missing on an existential level. The group presents low-intensity activities on-site at Swedish workplaces. Presenting a tug of war between freedom and structure, between personal judgment and regulations, and between emotions and logic. The tension between these poles is charged with energy, and concepts that at first glance can be seen as opposites are instead brought together; bureaucracy and art become synonyms, and new hybrid art forms emerge that find their way into offices, break rooms and corridors.

The activities have been structured as a form of digital correspondence with tasks and exercises. Now, the first year of the Undercentralen activities is presented in a stage performance at Skogen in Gothenburg 6-7 September. The audience is invited to an evening that moves between PowerPoint musical, multimedia learning opportunity, eclectic conference and alternative team building.

Performing participants from Undercentralen: Strapazia (State agency), Erik (Municipal Archives) Kassiopeia (Medium-sized municipality), Ursula (The Rosengård library) Kundklubben (State agency) and Liliana (Larger municipality)

The first year has been accompanied by musician Jon Ekström, who in the various constellations Arvsmassan, Dödsvarg, Signalbolaget, Ekot and Undercentralen has composed music based on the year’s activities: office-inspired pieces of music that range from electronic soundscapes to apocalyptic metal. Jon performs parts of the compositions during the evening.

Where: Skogen, Masthuggsterassen 3, Gothenburg
When: 6 Sep 18.00 and 7 Sep 15.00, 2025

The work is 75 minutes long and is performed in Swedish

Members of Undercentralen: My, Jennie, Mia, Andreas, Maria, Bitr. office, Ursula, Kundklubben, Marcus, Erik, Cathrin, Kassiopeia, Akira, Ida, Helia, Anna, Strapazia, Åsa, Glitterbok, Nora, Nicola, Marina, Anna-Karin, Johan, Cyxos, Liliana, Beppo, Patrik, Elin, Sten and Mattias

The Undercentralen activities are led by artist John Huntington

Image: Marcus, municipal administration / Andreas, performing arts institution / Mia, state agency

The event is produced with project support from the City of Gothenburg and Längmanska Kulturfonden.The title of the project was inspired by artist Lars Noväng.

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Click here for more information and booking

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Do you think that things easily grow too big? That different phenomena in your life consume too much time, energy and resources? That expansion and acceleration are concepts that are uncomfortable?

Then the “Exercise in Shrinking for 40-70 people” is something for you. This time it is performed during the annual SWAN (Swedish Artist Residency Network) gathering at Konstepidemin in Gothenburg, and is open to participants of the conference.

This exercise is an adaptation of the “Exercise in Shrinking for 7-10 people” that was performed at Skogen in March 2025, it is presented by Sara Granér and John Huntington and developed as part of RITE.

To read more about the exercise, content & development, see: Exercise in Shrinking for 7-10 people

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Kanslibyrådagarna is a conference about irrationality and inefficiency that takes place every second year. In this year’s edition, Kanslibyrån and Konsthall 323 are collaborating to provide an exciting and intensive program, which includes twenty-five artistic actions carried out in public environments. This year’s conference is mobile and will take place in Karlstad, Kristinehamn, Karlskoga, Örebro and Arboga, with a finale in Stockholm!

The final event in Stockholm will take place on Sunday 29 June 16.00-17.00 at Slipvillan, where Kanslibyrån will present the results of the conference and talk about previous activities. Snacks and drinks will be served and you are welcome to hang out in the garden until 20.00

The rest of the conference applies a flexible schedule and a selection of documented program items will be published continuously on Kanslibyrån’s and Konsthall 323’s Instagram accounts.

Kanslibyrån is an activist group and artistic institution consisting of Per-Arne Sträng and John Huntington. The bureau is engaged in a struggle in everyday life where rationality, obedience and efficiency are questioned on both a public and personal level. The agency explores the irrational as an act of resistance, bureaucracy as aesthetics and everyday life as an artistic space. Kanslibyrån’s most extensive project, The Archive of Actions, is a series of works that today consists of 690 artistic actions carried out primarily in public space.

Instagram: @kanslibyrån
Website: kanslibyrån.se

Konsthall 323 is an art institution in a car run by artists Frida Krohn and Ylva Trapp. The agency was founded in 2010. Our most common parking lot is in the Stockholm area, but our views change. We show up where we are needed.

Instagram: @konsthall323
Website: konsthall323.se

Image: Action No. 646: Roll out a red carpet

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A pedagogic and performative lecture about bureaucracy, creativity, and resistance. With the office as a starting point, the event explores the modern human tendency — or even addiction — to systematise everything around them. I will present examples from the long-term project The Twilight Bureaucracy — a collection of events, objects, and interventions that delve into the hidden layers of administration and the alternative realities of office life.

The session will introduce various ritualistic methods — small-scale, practical techniques that can be used in the workplace to combat feelings of powerlessness and frustration.

The event includes a short practical exercise. Each participant is asked to bring one printed, text-based document from their current workplace. Extra standardised papers will be provided for those who come empty-handed.

The event is part of the exhibition “The Bureaucrat Who Secretly Reads Poems” curated by Roberta Atraste as part of the Riga Photography Biennial—NEXT 2025

When: Thursday 29 May at 18.00
Where: Experimental Art Space “Pilot” of the Art Academy of Latvia, Vāgnera Street 3, Rīga.

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‍More information about the event and how to sign up

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“The exhibition The Bureaucrat Who Secretly Reads Poems looks towards the bureaucratic and administrative processes involved in art. Although these practices existed even before conceptual art, it was in the 1960s that artists began functioning as “managers” and “clerks”. Those in the field of visual art were among the first to entrust the production of their work to others – not in order to completely erase or dematerialise the art object, as is sometimes believed, but rather to engage in such activities as registering, documentation, archiving, listing and indexing. In art history, these practices are sometimes related to the concept of institutional criticism. Yet it is also possible to see them in another light, stressing the often-ignored absurd, poetic, psychological and sometimes even pleasurable aspects of these procedures. The aim of the exhibition is to study and present the aesthetics of bureaucratic and administrative processes in a contemporary context.

The Pilot Gallery is located on the ground floor of an office building, providing an opportunity to reach out not only to the gallery’s visitors but perhaps also to its neighbours.”

The exhibition is part of Riga Photography Biennial – NEXT 2025

Curator: Roberta Atraste (LV)
Participants: John Huntington (SE), Arta Kauliņa (LV), Sara Krøgholt Trier (DK), Katariin Mudist (EE), Evija Pintāne (LV)
Scenographer: Krišjānis Beļavskis (LV)

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April 25 – June 6
Experimental Art Space “Pilot” of the Art Academy of Latvia, Vāgnera Street 3, Rīga.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday 12:00-18:00. Free entrance.

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Do you think that things easily grow too big? That different phenomena in your life consume too much time, energy and resources? That expansion and acceleration are concepts that are uncomfortable?

Then you are most welcome to a practical exercise in shrinking, taking place at Skogen in Gothenburg. As a participant, you will be guided through a small-scale ritual that does not require any prior knowledge.

The drive to constantly expand is deeply embedded in our culture, it is a form of fundamental edict that a positive movement forward always goes hand in hand with an increase in size. It is not only economies that need to grow, but cities and municipalities must become larger, reach and impact must increase, working hours and years must increase. While these larger movements are happening, we are also expected to grow as individuals.

Maybe we should therefore practice shrinking?

The event is in Swedish, free of charge, about 45 minutes long, and afterward soup is served.

Book at spot here

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RITE is a research platform that, in practice and theory, is dedicated to transition and sustainable social formation.

RITE is trying to respond to the societal transformation we are all now experiencing and the great transformation we have ahead of us, based on our conviction that this process involves very profound changes in our cultural fabric, our beliefs and social institutions.

RITE therefore approaches – in theory and practice – the underlying thought systems and invisible ritual behaviors that have governed our institutions and our social fabric through modernity: Thought models and practices that are also often the very root of the problems we are now trying to get the same institutions to solve.

This happens in interaction with what we call the ritual spaces of society: the space of learning, the space of law, the space of urban planning, the space of economics, the space of politics, etc. Spaces that are all interconnected, but at the same time also carry their own rites and stories. In our work, we seek out these different social spaces in order – together with those who work there – to uncover and make visible the underlying operating systems of the spaces and explore how these can be changed, opened up or put into play.

The Rite Development Group is part of RITE and focuses on the ability of rites and rituals to touch and create tangibility. We also test how new rites can be introduced in different contexts in society, in ways that open up other spaces of thought, interruptions, ways out and possibilities for action.

The group is Lars Noväng, Johan Forsman, Sara Granér, Ludvig Lindelöf and John Huntington.

More info at: www.rite.agency

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