Sugar Walks: through the Decolonised Future of Gothenburg

Sugar Walks: Through the Decolonised Future of Gothenburg The purpose of the proposed project is to further develop results from the ongoing artistic research project The Sugar Games: New perspectives on Gothenburg´s colonial history seen through the handling of sugar (VR 2023-25).

The aim is to challenge the colonial history and future of Gothenburg through a number of public city walks - Sugar Walks - based on the complex mapping and archival material of the research project.The work process is carried out in three main steps, in close collaboration with a number of artists, researchers, students, museum pedagogues and citizens, with various knowledge and experiences of colonial structures:  2025: Collaborators are invited to take part in the final compilation and analyses of the research project’s maps, archival material, artistic work and documentations.2026 Jan-June: The research results serve as the basis for creative site investigations, performative ‘walkshops’ and the implementation of the Sugar walks developed through collaborative processes.2026: Aug-Dec: The final Sugar Walks are transferred to the City Museum´s public program in collaboration between the research team and the museum pedagogues.

By literarily walking through colonial traces the Sugar walks serve both as a new performative and site-specific method of disseminating and communicating research and as a decolonial public tool in artistic research, as well as in activism and museum pedagogy.