The Luleå Biennial 2024, On the threshold of 1:1, gathered artistic and architectural perspectives to incite reflections on the drastic changes in Norrbotten, Sweden’s northernmost region, encompassing both its built and natural environments. The biennial unfolded through exhibitions and events across cultural institutions, significant buildings and public spaces in Luleå, Boden, Kiruna, and Messaure.

Norrbotten, the ancestral land of the indigenous Sámi, has long been in a state of change caused by local, national and global processes spanning from century-old resource extraction, and in recent years the proliferation of data storage facilities, the emergence of the so-called “green” industries, massive urban development, and environmental disruption. These and other processes have shaped and scarred the landscape and the livelihoods of those who inhabit it, materializing in transient grounds, sinking and fleeting cities, disposable settlements, and displaced communities, among others. These occurrences are undeniably palpable and immediate, yet simultaneously not entirely resolved or comprehensible, as if suspended at the scale of 1:1, in-between representation and reality. What emancipatory alternatives emerge On threshold of 1:1?

The Luleå Biennial 2024 showcases resilient practices and alternatives amidst contexts of profound transformation, both locally and globally, fostering alliances between Norrbotten and other regions and communities, both close within Sápmi, and afar, such as the Hamada Desert, the Australian Pilbara, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, and more.