Q
What structures and processes in art institutions do you find necessary to create a mutual, equitable partnership between institutions, curators and artists?
A
My SWIT Platform is nomadic, I don't have a physical space, so I rely heavily on partnerships for carrying out my events. In the last few years, I’ve learned a lot about how to reach out and build communal trust, and I believe that together with transparency and honesty these are the key words for successful collaborations.
As a small platform, when I approach a new institution, artist, or curator, I'm not afraid of acknowledging my limitations in terms of time, money, and resources. I think it’s important to be upfront about this, allowing everyone to adjust their contributions based on their capacity. In this way we can understand our mutual expectations and work accordingly.
So to summarize an answer for your question, I'd say it's all about open communication. And it is good to write down in a contract what the parties have mutually agreed upon. So I think it's necessary to talk about which kind of structure is being built together, what resources are available, and what roles and responsibilities each party takes on. Just like in healthy human relationships.
Q
When working across cultures and borders, how to best understand and navigate communication processes of art with external artists, curators and collaborators?
A
This has been a central question for me in 2023, when I organized an exhibition in Gothenburg – which later traveled to Italy – with artists from both countries, curated by an Italian curator. It also came up when I accompanied a group of Swedish students and teachers to Italy for a workshop last year. In these situations, my role as mediator became quite important to help participants and audiences navigate both contexts. Knowing both cultures and speaking both languages allowed me to mediate comments and put behaviors into context. Italians can come across as too loud, Swedes as too quiet, but often they’re expressing very similar things, just in different ways. So in my experience, when working across cultures, it's important to have someone who can understand the differences and make them understandable to others.
Q
How can institutions develop their exhibition spaces into places for genuine dialogue?
A
By starting using an accessible and familiar language. Too often I read cryptic exhibition texts full of difficult words that throw me off and don't make me enjoy the exhibition. I think this kind of language invites a very selective audience into the conversation and shuts out a large part of the public from any real dialogue.
Since you ask about being genuine, I can say that the best conversations I’ve had during openings were with people who don’t usually engage with the art world. With my SWIT platform, I try to break the formalities using a tone that’s informal and welcoming, hoping this will resonate with a wide audience.
This question came up again recently while working on the 2026 program. Together with the Gothenburg-based nomadic library Take 10 Press, we wanted to create a photobook exhibition featuring publications from Sweden and Italy. We talked a lot about how photobooks are a niche format and often not very accessible to a broader audience. That led us to the idea of approaching Lagerhusets Bibliotek, a public library in Gothenburg, asking if they were willing to host the exhibition by disseminating the photobooks in the shelves that hold their regular text books. And they loved the idea! It’s a space where people don’t expect to encounter photobooks, and we hope that surprise can spark curiosity and open up new ways of engaging with them. So probably genuine dialogue happens outside institutions.
About SWIT
SWIT is the platform for contemporary photography bridging Sweden and Italy. Through residencies, exhibitions, talks, interviews, and workshops, SWIT aims to strengthen the cooperation between Sweden-based and Italy-based artists, curators, and institutions within photography.
SWIT is nomadic, it doesn't have a physical venue but collaborates with other spaces to develop its activities. Its ultimate goal is twofold. On one hand, they allow artists to gain exposure and establishment in new contexts abroad. On the other, they ensure that different audiences in different cities can access unique and original knowledge through collaborative and informal frameworks.
The platform is funded and run by Stefano Conti, Italian artist based in Gothenburg, with the occasional support of interns. Some years ago, he realized that Italy didn’t know that much about contemporary photography in Sweden, and vice versa. They both weren't aware of the amount of great exhibition spaces, publishers, artists, and curators. Artistically, he felt like he was keeping one foot in Sweden and the other in Italy, so he started to think about the possibility of building a bridge to make things smoother, quicker and more fun. A bridge easy to cross, potentially big enough to meet some other people on the way. And here we are!
In 2024, SWIT initiated the first and only photography-focused residency in Gothenburg. Through open calls, artists and curators based in Italy are selected and economically supported to spend time in the city developing research, networks, and new projects.
Financially, SWIT operates mainly through public support. Funding has come primarily from the City of Gothenburg but also from European funds, Västra Götaland Region, Swedish foundations, the Swedish Embassy in Rome, and the Italian Institute of Culture in Stockholm.
