Questions and Answers on Public Art Commission

To apply for an artistic commission, the following requirements must be met:

• You must be a professional artist.
• Upon receiving the assignment, you must be able to invoice according to relevant tax regulations, for example by being approved for F-tax (sole proprietorship or company).

According to the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, "A professionally active artist is a person who can fully or partially support themselves through their artistic work and who regularly presents their art to an audience or an artistic context.

An artist can use their skills in many different ways, such as in education, advertising, or other commissioned contexts outside of their own artistic practice. (Someone who solely engages in this type of commissioned work is not professionally active as an artist at a professional level in this context)."

Yes, we accept applications from professional artists based in or outside of Sweden.

The announcements are translated into English. There is no guarantee that all project documents are available in multiple languages.

We are open to working with artists who do not have a sole proprietorship or their own company. If you are assigned a sketch assignment, you must inform us of how you intend to invoice before we sign an agreement.

Yes. You can provide information on your co-applicant in the application form.

All Open Calls are published on this website regionstockholm.se.

If you have a profile in the Artist database for Region Stockholm, Konstnärsbasen, you will recieve an e-mail about current Open Calls.

Channels for advertisments:

• Konstpool  
• facebook.com/Kulturförvaltningen

You can attach a CV and visual material to your Application of Interest by referring to your account in Konstnärsbasen or providing a link to a website where reference material is available.

No sketches must be attached to the notification.

The Stockholm County Council Culture Administration has a database for artists called Konstnärsbasen. As a member, you can showcase your work and receive information on Open Calls. Please refer primarily to your account in Konstnärsbasen in your application.

If you do not wish to register in Konstnärsbasen, you can refer to a website where we can find your CV and visual reference material.

If neither Konstnärsbasen nor web references work for you, you can submit physical materials. In such case, please make sure both your CV and visual reference materials are included.

Applications for Open Calls are first reviewed and assessed by the Stockholm County Council Culture Administration’s Art Department in collaboration with external independent art advisors.

The selection is then presented to representatives of the hospital, construction managers and architects for comments. The decision on which artist(s) will be selected will be taken by the Director of the Art Department, delegated by the Stockholm County Council Culture Committee.

Region Stockholm works on the basis of the diversity that the operation represent at the assignment site, for example a care ward, and based on the conditions and context of that activity.

We strive for diversity, content sustainability, material sustainability, and accessibility in the public Art Commissions, as stated in the Open Calls.

Diversity means that there must be representation based on several perspectives, for example techniques, materials or expressions.

These four aspects of quality are taken into account in assessment situations and serve as a tool for asking relevant and critical questions.

Information om tilldelade uppdrag publiceras också på Region Stockholms webbplats.

Applicants for Open Calls will be notified by email of the selection.

Results of Open Calls are also published on the Stockholm County Council Culture Administration’s website regionstockholm.se/kultur and via the communication service MyNewsDesk, and on the Culture Administration’s Facebook page.

You can upload images of the artwork(s) and related materials, for example a CV of the artist, to Stockholm County Council’s databas for artists, Konstnärsbasen.

This information will be available and searchable to the Stockholm County Council Culture Administration’s Art Department’s project managers as well as external independent art advisors, who work together to acquire artworks for the County Council’s healthcare and administration environments. If your artwork(s) are considered for acquisition for a project, you will be contacted.

Please note that the contexts of our projects vary. Artworks that are suitable for one environment may not work so well in another. Even if your works are considered, it may take some time before a suitable project is found. 

The conditions for public art in a healthcare environment are unique for each place. Great consideration must be given to the environment and the business; it can be about everything from hygiene requirements that affect the choice of materials to patient experiences that affect the content of the design assignment.

Region Stockholm is also a large organization with many parties involved in a project. Different businesses are also authorities that must meet different authority requirements.

The project time can also be affected as the installation time of the art comes late in the project, even though the work on the art can last for several years.

Construction projects usually extend over several years. As a consequence of the Culture Administration Art Department’s early involvement in the construction process, the commissioning process can also extend over several years and be impacted by changes in the construction schedule as well as architectural plans. Time schedules, processes and deliveries are coordinated with the construction project.

Most of the Open Calls are for sites or spaces that are yet to be built. Therefore we are unable to provide images of the site. When architectural drawings or renderings are available they are usually published in the Open Call.

Please note, we do not require sketches to be submitted with the application for Open Calls. Detailed information on the site will be provided to artists selected to submit a sketch assignment.

The artist works together with art project managers and staff at the Culture Administration and the Art Department. The projects include close collaboration with the project organization.

The degree of public or private nature of places, as well as openness and privacy, can vary widely. The art is always designed specifically for the place and the context it is part of. Working with art in our context always means working in public spaces, either in care environments or in connection with these.