FÖR-BINDELSE-AKTER

Karlstad, Sweden
2025–2026
Public art

För-bindelse-akter is a public artwork currently under construction for the infrastructural bypass Vikenförbindelsen in Karlstad, Sweden. It consists of three sculptural works placed from east to west at different locations along the bypass. The artwork takes its point of departure in a boat hull – in the skeleton and shell that form the interface between boat and water. The three sculptures can together form a single continuous hull, as if they originate from one and the same vessel divided into architectural signs.

The intervention is anchored in Viken’s history through Wennberg’s Mechanical Workshop and its ship production from the early 1900s. We draw from Wennberg’s original drawings of a tugboat from 1916. The artwork connects to the vision’s three concepts: time, movement, and the changes of light. The sculptures evoke portals and pavilions – spatial enclosures that embrace the human body and form small stages along the route. Their placement from east to west follows the sun’s movement from morning to evening, each piece aligning itself with the the rays of the sun at a certain time of the day.

The title För-bindelse-akter links the ship’s bow (för) with its stern (akter), while simultaneously pointing to the connection (förbindelse) itself. Through all parts of the artwork, we want to activate the entire Vikenförbindelsen and contribute to a continuous urban environment.

Collaboration between Studio Max Gerthel and artist David Svensson for Karlstads kommun.