Culture Night, the epitome of Stockholm’s art scene, once again opened the doors to over 180 galleries, art spaces, museums and exhibitions completely for free. Being a great opportunity to explore what your city offers beyond the “home – office – home” routine, it’s a must-attend event that I sincerely hope you didn’t miss. And in case you did, I am happy to create some FOMO for you to pencil it into your next year’s itinerary!
Culture Night is a classic example of the paradox of overchoice that happens when too many appealing choices can negatively affect the decision-making process and the satisfaction with the overall experience. After all, there is only so much you can fit in the six-hour timeframe of Culture night, right?
The overall atmosphere of the Culture Night encourages going with the flow since most of the events don’t require any prebooking. Adding a bit of organisation to the flow maximises the time you spend in the venues and minimises the time you spend in the public transport – a total win-win. The Culture Night website is perfectly built for this because it enables you to save your favourite spots on a map and share the link with your phone or a friend.
And of course, some events like workshops and classes have a limited capacity, so they must be pre-booked in advance. This year, I decided to begin my evening with a pottery class at Urban Artists that the lucky handful of people bothered to book several weeks before Day X. And boy, was it worth it?
Located in Södermalm, the studio offers a chill atmosphere and a place for city people to relax. Picture this – you enter a classic Scandi-decorated studio and immediately feel the welcoming vibes. Jenny Chuang Sköld founded the studio a year ago as an outlet for people to live their lives and create together in a safe space. Aimed at non-professionals, Jenny offered a Kurinuki handbuilding workshop for the Culture Night.
Kurinuki is a Japanese pottery technique that involves shaping a solid block of clay and carving it out with tools to create a shape. Cleaner than an experience with a classic pottery turning wheel, the carving technique had a meditative, calming effect on me, aligned with the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi that embraces the beauty of imperfection and impermanence. Conclusion: if ever stressed, go and carve yourself a mug!
Operating under the “Dirty hands, mind spa” slogan, Urban Artists, combines craft and savouring by bringing food experiences like Asian desserts and matcha drinks into the studio. Last but not least, the parents will be happy to find out that Jenny focuses on kids’ workshops as well and offers a summer art camp this year!
Feeling relaxed and calm, I moved to a much more energised experience – International Dance Day featuring Latin dances and music in Kungsträdgården. I witnessed a few Puerto Rican and Peruvian folk dances, and let me say this much: your feet can’t stop tapping along to the catchy rhythms!
A little tip for next year’s attendees: if you don’t know what to do, always go to Kungsträdgården – from year to year, there is always music, food trucks, many food trucks and information desks that help you plan out your next move.
After a glorious dance-off and a snack, I headed to the museum island and popped by Spritmuseum for a late-night cocktail hour and Andy Warhol’s “Money on the Wall” exhibition. At the end of the day, what’s a better combination than a good drink and capitalistic art? 😉
Once, Andy Warhol famously said, “I like money on the wall”, highlighting that art is a form of investment and money flaunting. This way, instead of buying a $200.000 painting, why not just hang the $200.000 in cash on the wall with a tape?
The exhibition discusses Warhol’s approach to art from a business perspective. Among a whole crowd of avant-garde artists, he has been exploring the art in the capitalistic culture and how the concept of “selling out” affects the artists. The opposite of “selling out” is putting art on a pedestal that must remain separate from the financial gain, which makes the artists bound to living in poverty in a survival mode, as history has shown throughout the years.
Not fond of simple living, Warhol turned “selling out” into an art supply and focused his artistic endeavours on the directions that could bring him a return on investment – painting the famous and the wealthy, mass-producing the prints and artifying the everyday objects like soap boxes and cans. This way, slow but steady, he arrived at the idea of business art, as the step that comes after art.
Whether you agree or not with the approach, the exhibition is certainly an enlightening experience for the art-lovers and business-minded people, open until September 14, 2025.
Summing it up, the six hours of unlimited culture have filled up the town with buzzing, open-minded audiences ready to explore and enjoy a Saturday night out. Do not get discouraged if you missed out, you can already start building up those expectations that definitely will be met next year!
