REQUIEM FOR FAINTHEARTEDNESS

Rum 44 festival, outside Lidköping 2026

The consecration of a cemetery for sculptures. To death metal guitar, I screamed the voice of doubt at the assembled artists: nobody asked for your art, you could have made weapons, you could have made money — and pressed a small plastic gun into every hand. Then the guitar fell quiet, and we buried the sculptures in grass and sand, reading in unison at every grave: "Thank you for everything, forgotten jewel. Now you lie here, dead and cool. Sleep well, little soul." The ritual ended with a prayer of thanksgiving: we can defend ourselves with art — not against guns, but against what guns cannot touch. An exorcism of the inner voice that tells every artist their work is waste.

Tony Topp played the death metal guitar. Olga Eskilsson held the flag. Niklas Karlsson took photos.