About
Marika Hedemyr is an artist/choreographer exploring the emotional and political relations between people and places. With poetic lightness and political sharpness, she creates magic realism in public spaces, and tell stories that connect the very local to the global. Her work is characterized by everyday situations in a twisted reality, precision, humour and physicality. She works across public art, choreography and mixed reality. Her site-specific mixed reality walks combine documentary material with mobile AR-technology (Augmented Reality) and performative formats, into an affective experience that tickles the audience’s imagination, heart, and thoughts.
Since the 90s she has consistently created works ranging from small intimate performances to large-scale productions, in art- and theatre venues and public spaces. 2000–2014 she was artistic director and choreographer of the dance theatre company Crowd Company, touring in Sweden and internationally. She also co-founded Dansbyrån, a Swedish artist-run platform for choreographic development through theory and practice 2001–2016, which for instance ran Dansbaren, a monthly public forum for conversations on artistic practice. Hedemyr’s works, company and platforms are regularly supported by Swedish Arts Council, City of Göteborg, Region Västra Götaland, Swedish Arts Grants Committee, and in recent years Region Skåne. Her works have been presented at amongst others GIBCA – Gothenburg International Biennale for Contemporary Art, Dansens Hus Stockholm, Röda Sten Konsthall, The Swedish Dance Biennale, Bibliotheca Alexandrina Egypt, Rawabet Theatre Kairo, Yokohama Dance Collection Japan, and numerous public places in Sweden and abroad.
Since 2014 Hedemyr has focused on developing her practice and discourse with particular focus on AR and mixed reality for public places. Her artistic works are commissions and co-productions. Recent works are Next To You (2017) – about co-existence in a shared public space, in co-production with Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival and RISE Interactive, and ENTER Mölndal (2018/2019) – a series re-activating cultural heritage sites, commissioned by Mölndals Stadsmuseum. Her publications include a chapter in Art and The City (2017, Routledge) and the paper Tracing the Conceptions of the Body in HCI (2021 CHI Conference). Her PhD research on Mixed Reality in Public Space at School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University (2017–22) explores composition methods that combine choreography and interaction design.
Open Marika Hedemyr’s CV (pdf, 266 kB)
ARTIST STATEMENT
I´m an interdisciplinary artist and choreographer, exploring questions of how we relate to each other and how politics is present in our everyday interactions. These ordinary mundane situations inspire me, especially when they are odd and make me laugh. Our coexistence in public space has always intrigued me, and I pursue this interest through a search for poetic lightness and political sharpness. For me, space is always a place, and my works offer a sense of magic realism that connects the very local to the global.
I work with choreographic techniques, site-specific performances in public space, Tanztheater, and choreography as expanded practice to create situations that speak via the body. In recent years I have developed a format of mixed reality walks that combines mobile augmented reality technology with theatrical techniques for imagination.
My ambition is to share the wonders of life through an embodied art practice. With both humour and seriousness, I strive to create an inroad to empathy and to activate a sense of connection to a larger context. This underlying sense of connectedness can produce critical reflection on how to nurture peaceful coexistence within our shared society.
When I work as choreographer in theatre and opera productions: In opera and theatre plays I join the team as choreographer. I work closely together with the team and ensemble to develop each characters' unique body language and the play’s non-verbal narrative of place and identity. I choreograph situations, energies and actions, as well as movements. I treat the theater space as a shared space, crafting the resonance of the actors’ bodily actions and their reverberations in the audience and in the room.
Marika Hedemyr
Malmö 24 March 2024
PRICES & AWARDS
2023 The Malmö University Award “Best PhD thesis of the Faculty of Culture & Society 2023”, for Hedemyr’s thesis Mixed Reality in Public Space
2021 Honorable Mention Award, for the academic paper Tracing Conceptions of the Body in HCI. Granted by The SIGCHI “Best of CHI” CHI2021 – Human Factors in Computing Systems Conference.
2016, 2014, 2011, 2008, 2007, 2004: Marika has received yearly working grants from The Swedish Arts Grants Committee for her artistic work.
2013: The Swedish Theatre Critics Award “The performance of the year 2013” for the production Alexander och Påfågeln, Masthuggsteatern.
2009: Marika Hedemyr’s work Just In Time was selected for the final in the international choreography competition of Yokohama Dance Collection R in Japan.
2002: Gothenburg City Cultural Award, for “appreciated achievements for the city’s cultural life”.
2001: Västra Götaland Cultural Award, for “being an exceptional multi talented and complete dance artist who combines theory and practice in a constructive and professional manner”.
1999: The 1999 CORD Award for Graduate Research. Granted by CORD (Congress on Research in Dance), Pomona College, California, USA.
PORTRAIT PRESS PICTURES
Welcome to download photos for articles, program etc related to Marika Hedemyr and her work. Hedemyr and the photographer's name should always be mentioned. For use in commercial or any other event you must get our permission. Ask at: info[a]marikahedemyr.com
