Kvarteret Plankan is a 25.000 m2 residential quarter in Stockholm built in 1966. It contains 341 apartments and has a large, rectangular courtyard. In this courtyard, a second, round building is now under construction.
For a period between spring 2018 and until access to the area was denied because of the start of construction, Ellen Røed, through the artistic research project Image as Site, explored the courtyard of Kvarteret Plankan through a series of iterative field-recordings relating to the idea of a circle versus a rectangle.
The investigations were triggered by the fact that, after years of battle against the municipality of Stockholm, the residents of Kvarteret Plankan lost their final appeal and the awaiting investors could start the construction of their long planned circular building situated on pillars inside the large rectangular court. The new building, two stories taller than the existing ones, will contain 119 apartments. The existing building will also be expanded vertically with two full floors.
The process has been filled with conflict and, due to inflation and increased building costs, the building is delayed and partly cancelled. After several visits during this research period, Trond Lossius created a electroacoustic composition for Plankan. This will be performed at Plankan when the court has openend again.
The studies of Plankan, resulting films and compositions are shared on the Research Catalogue in a continously developing exposition.
Stockholm, 2023.