Of Public InterestArtistic freedom reflects the state of the societies we build and inhabit. Today, as polarization deepens, so too do the attempts to direct, censor, or contain artistic expression—signs of the shifting frameworks that shape how we live together. OPI’s mission is to develop counterspaces—constructing methods, projects, and places within our shared living environment that negotiate artistic values and insist on our active involvement as both a form of critical resistance to the state we are in and a means of imagining alternative futures: what is, what could be, and what should be Of Public Interest. OPI takes its point of departure in a slow, collaborative experimentation across art, architecture, and beyond, exploring the potential of engaging with our living environment as a camouflaging practice—building projects that act as spatial double agents. Our headquarters is located in a storefront in Gröndal, Stockholm—an area undergoing significant transformation over the coming decade. We see our storefront as a form of spatial publication, a Public(Loc)ation, where we test, develop, and experiment with multifaceted artistic languages and methodologies through sketching and prototyping at a 1:1 scale in our living environment. The neighborhood itself becomes our atelier, its publics, contexts, and actors our conversation partners. OPI believes that ongoing dialogue—through artistic languages—with the area we inhabit builds the trust, knowledge, and room for maneuver needed to create experimental and challenging projects for our shared living environment. These projects are not intended to please everyone; rather, they embrace disagreement as a vital part of public life. We see this methodology as a foundation for shaping future projects, methods, and practices elsewhere. To facilitate this, OPI is built on three co-existing entities that structurally support and continually inform each other:
