Art interest became a tasteful reuse gallery

When students move out, or just get tired of their wall decorations, the paintings often end up in AF Bostäder’s Green Rooms or bulky waste stations. At Vildanden, Jonas Ekman began setting aside intact and fine examples, with the hope of utilising them in some way.

When it was time to renovate Vildanden’s laundry room and furnish a small adjoining room as a lounge with new lamps, wallpaper and furniture, Jonas Ekman saw his chance and filled the walls with selected paintings. The word spread about the small lounge, and soon even more works were received, and so the idea of the reuse gallery was born – the Vildanden Art Exchange.

It is a place where students can choose a painting and take it home with them and leave another one there if they so wish. Some students hang works they have painted themselves. The gallery is a success among the tenants and the lounge is popular, not least due to Jonas Ekman’s well-thought-through exhibitions with specific themes. Sometimes the theme will be flowers or perhaps motifs from France. And the paintings change hands often, giving discarded artworks a new lease of life – again and again.