by Nina Johansson, Stockholm
I have been away from Slussen in Stockholm for a while, and now that I got around to spend some time there drawing again, the classic landmark Kolingsborg was suddenly boarded up and painted white! I had read about this in the papers, but not seen it with my own eyes.
Since Slussen is going to be demolished in a not too far away future (or so they have said for a long time now), the City has decided to invite graffiti artists to paint Kolingsborg – hence the white background colour. Not all people in the city love this idea, there have been demonstrations, and there is a big debate in papers and digital media. But for the new city government (since the elections 2014) this is a great way to put a big exclamation mark on skipping the “zero tolerance policy” for graffiti that was introduced by the last government. What better way o show these intentions than to cover a very visible building in spray paint!
I love street art, and Kolingsborg is a really cool building. Should be a good combination. But it´s sad that this is brought on by the fact that Kolingsborg will be demolished soon.
Meanwhile, until the graffiti artists are done, Kolingsborg looks like an unreal cream cake resting up there, overlooking Old town and the waters on both sides of Slussen. It is an interesting sight, no matter what you think about this project.
