Project
The Immigrant Files: Democracy Is Not Dead; It Just Smells Funny
The Immigrant Files: Democracy is Not Dead; It Just Smells Funny
Konsthall C, Stockholm, Sweden
25 January – 4 April 2009
What happens when democracy is taken for granted? For several decades the "Swedish Model" has had the reputation of being ideal, but what is the state of democracy in Sweden today? The Immigrant Files: Democracy is Not Dead; It Just Smells Funny, approaches this and other challenging questions in a two-part project composed of a book and a video installation based on interviews with 8 Latin American immigrants residing in Sweden, who through their work actively fight discrimination and xenophobia based on ethnicity, race, religious beliefs gender and/or sexual orientation within contemporary Swedish society.
The fully illustrated 192-page, bilingual (Swedish/English) book The Immigrant Files: Democracy is Not Dead; It Just Smells Funny contains an introduction by University of Lund sociologist Diana Mulinari and interviews with Miguel Benito (The Immigrant Institute, Borås), Joanna Castro (Information Officer at Zenit, Stockholm), Luis Adolfo Conde Costas (Sociologist), Carlos Díaz (The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights), Tigran Feiler (colombianatverket.se), Juan Fonseca (former M.P. for Social Democracy and director, Diskrimineringsbyrån, Stockholm), Pablo Leiva (The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights) and Karla López (former M.P. for the Green Party).
The video installation is a spatial presentation composed of several narrative sequences drawn from the interviews and from images filmed throughout Stockholm, Borås, Gothemburg, Visby, and Fåro Island.
