POLAR & TROPIC: Collaboration, Networks, and Sustainability in Artist-Run Spaces.

Participants: Kristian Schrøder (Pachinko, Oslo), Sif Lindblad (All all all, Copenhagen), Klara Li (All all all, Copenhagen), David Willis (MoT +++, Ho Chi Minh City), Rhea Laras Thehawijay (Gelanggang Olah Rasa, Bandung) and Gregoire Rousseau (Station of Commons), Alvaro Gurrea (SWAB, Barcelona) | Moderated by Alvaro Gurrea

As part of Polar & Tropic, a program connecting art scenes across Northern Europe and the Southeast Pacific, this conversation brings together artist-run spaces from Norway, Sweden, Vietnam, and Indonesia to explore innovative ways of working, sharing, and sustaining artistic practices. Moving beyond traditional institutions and market-driven models, the discussion emphasizes collaboration, collective care, and making the most of limited resources.

Through stories of shared projects, residencies, and experimental networks, participants show how international exchange and mutual support can ignite creativity and open new possibilities for art-making. The Polar & Tropic program at SWAB 2025 Barcelona provides a platform for connection, dialogue, and the co-creation of ideas across borders.

POLAR & TROPIC: Rethinking the Art Fair Experience

The Polar & Tropic program at Swab 2025 Barcelona brings together galleries, artist-run spaces, and collectives from the Nordic countries, where strong institutional support and public funding shape artistic practice, and from Southeast Asia, where limited resources have created self-organised communities and grassroots collaboration. By highlighting these different modes of...

POLISH PERSPECTIVES, GLOBAL CONVERSATIONS: Artists on the Move

Independent art spaces from Poland, the UK, and Spain open their doors to reveal the hidden worlds where experimentation, performance, and emerging voices thrive. Founders of Galeria Szczur (Poznań), Outhouse Gallery (London), and C U AT SADKA(Kraków) share how unconventional spaces—ranging from basements and old wooden houses to a former...

ARTIST ALLY: Navigating Community and Creativity in Barcelona

Barcelona’s art scene is full of energy, opportunities, and challenges and Artist Ally is helping immigrant and international artists navigate it with confidence. Through living maps of the city’s art ecosystem, Ally Circles, and guidance in marketing, self-care, and resource management, the platform offers practical tools that go beyond what...

FLAVORS & CONVERSATIONS: How Food Feeds Art

What happens when food meets art? Recorded live during MAKAN KEBIJAKAN, a workshop and performance by Jatiwangi Art Factory (JaF) at the SWAB Art Fair, this conversation reveals how shared meals spark stories, connections, and unexpected collaborations, starting with a simple welcome dinner at an art residency and blossoming into...

FROM LOCAL LANDSCAPES TO GLOBAL DIALOGUE: Art, Ecology, and Sustainability

Art, nature, and climate intersect in unexpected ways in this rich dialogue between artists and gallery representatives from Argentina, Mexico, Taiwan, Colombia, and Spain. They explore how rural landscapes, nomadic practices, and experimental materials—from ceramics and leaves to supermarket tickets—become tools to reflect on sustainability, memory, and community. The conversation...