Three New Artist Residencies Ahead of OPENART 2026

An artist and an artist duo with connections to Örebro, as well as an artist based in Latvia, will be working at OpenArt’s studio in early 2026 in preparation for their participation in OPENART 2026. The artists have been selected by OpenArt for individual 30‑day residencies in Örebro through the European network Magic Carpets. During the residencies, the artists will meet and collaborate with different groups through a partnership with Church Nikolai.

OpenArt is part of Magic Carpets 2025–2028, a project co‑funded by the EU. The Magic Carpets platform brings together 17 European cultural organizations that create opportunities for artists to undertake residencies both abroad and in their home countries.

Conversations and Creativity with Church Nikolai

Three different groups from Church Nikolai will collaborate with the artists through conversations and workshops. Artist Marja‑Leena Sillanpää will work with the women’s choir Vox Nicolai, a choir of young adult singers. The artist duo Tova Lilja and Emil Faisal Hasselberg will meet and create together with the church’s confirmation groups. Finally, Latvian artist Ieva Saulīte will collaborate with Träffpunkt, a community space for conversations, activities, and crafts.

About the artists

Marja-Leena Sillanpää
Marja‑Leena Sillanpää often begins with real events—current, historical or future events and allows them to take shape as installations and presentations. Her artistic approach moves between text, performance, sound art, and visual expressions, which then materialize in installation-based works.

In addition to her artistic practice, Marja‑Leena explores philosophical, esoteric, and scientific questions in both personal and artistic ways. Archiving materials has become a method for gathering and processing information. Her art revolves around what is difficult to grasp, the enigmatic aspects of human existence.

Marja‑Leena Sillanpää has also taught for many years at Örebro Art School.

Tova Lilja and Emil Faisal Hasselberg
Together, artists Tova and Emil explore each other’s artistic processes, expressions, and differences with curiosity. A recurring theme in their collaborative work is creating in dialogue with the forces of nature. Tova is from Örebro, and she studies together with Emil at Umeå Academy of Fine Arts.

Tova Lilja works with visual and conceptual art. Conceptual art means that the idea is more important than the physical object, the focus lies on the thought behind the work rather than its appearance. Tova follows traces left behind by people, as well as dreams and memories. Her works become images of what she experiences and interprets.

Emil Faisal Hasselberg combines craftsmanship with idea‑driven creation. He primarily works in metal, producing sculptures and installations from recycled materials. With a poetic tone in his artistic practice, he seeks to spark reflections on our relationship with the forest and how we use nature’s resources.

Ieva Saulīte
Ieva Saulīte explores the intersection of memory, environment, and the human inner world. By transforming everyday and found materials, she creates forms and figures resembling creatures that reflect dreams of a perfect world as well as anxieties about a darker future in today’s society.

Saulīte has developed a visual language in which dust, bundles, and worn objects become symbols of what we carry within us. By working with worn materials and traditional craft techniques, she seeks ways to measure time and make our material heritage visible. Her use of slow and sustainable methods aims to create space for dialogue about our shared future.

Exhibiting Artists at OPENART 2026
The three residency artists are all part OPENART – an art exhibition in the public sphere of Örebro city that takes place every two years and opens on June 13, 2026. The artists will be working at OpenArt’s studio in February/March 2026 to create artworks that will be shown during the 2026 art exhibition in the city.

OPENART runs from June 13 to September 6, 2026, in Örebro.

Contact
Stefanie Svensson, Marketing Coordinator, OpenArt
stefanie.svensson@orebro.se
+46 768 86 75 12

Mattias Käll, Producer at OpenArt and Magic Carpets
mattias.kall@orebro.se
+46 76 551 37 10