What is Tomma Rum?

Tomma Rum (Empty Spaces) is a self-organised platform and artist group for cultural and artistic exchange. Each summer all participants together arrange a residency in a smaller municipality in Sweden. Tomma Rum is about the meeting and the creation of new forms of cooperation between artists, cultural workers and the local inhabitants of the visited community.

Tomma Rum is open to anyone interested in art, culture, people and the places we visit. Artists but also architects, poets, musicians, writers, photographers and actors participate in Tomma Rum. The participants are of different age and origin, coming from among others, Denmark, Norway, England, Hungary, France and Japan. This results in a unique dynamic both within the group and in its local cooperation. We organize exhibitions, performances, film shoots, public talks, and much more. Unexpected encounters occur and both hosts and visitors are stimulated to new perspectives on local partnerships and cultural life.

How does it work?

Tomma Rum is currently organized by artists and art students in Sweden. In mid-Mars after traveling around visiting a short list of municipalities all around the country, we select which district to reside in during summer. We are usually in place for two months, most typically from mid-June to mid-August. Shorter project happens sometimes.
We do not select participants for the residency, we welcome everyone that want’s to be part of it. We strive for being a horizontal organization and it that perspective we are a unique residency.

We release the name of the yearly host municipality in March and the bookings open during the last days of April. You are then welcome to book your stay.
The participation fee is 300 SEK (~30 EUR) included is membership in Tomma Rum’s association, which grants you to participate in our activities all year round. People under the age of 18 can not participate in the project without the company of a guardian.
Take a look at our jubilee catalogue ”Tomma Rum finns i Sverige” to get a hold on our activity.

Regardless if you are an individual or a municipality, have questions or suggestions, feel free to contact us at mail [a] tommarum . se