Sputnik

Sputnik was the name of a space programme in which the Soviet Union launched a number of satellites into Earth’s orbit. Sputnik 1 was launched on 4 October 1957, thus becoming the first artificial satellite sent by humans into space. Sputnik 2 was launched a month later, crewed by the dog Laika.

The word sputnik means travelling companion and Anneli Linder borrowed this word as the name for her three-metre-tall light sculpture on Drottninggatan. Across the street from the sculpture is Endre Nemes’s large enamel frieze. The frieze has been standing there since 1959 and is almost the same age as the Soviet space programme. Linder’s Sputnik was first created in 2010 but is intended to function as a sort of travelling companion to Neme’s enamel work.

The municipal housing company ÖBO commissioned Anneli and Jonas Linder’s architect and design office Kapitän to design a work for the site. An architect and design company being commissioned to create a sculpture is maybe a bit unconventional, and that the sculpture exists somewhere in the borderland between the domains of visual art and architecture can also be seen aesthetically, both through the use of conventional building materials and through the sculpture’s austere shape, which mirrors the surrounding buildings.

The aims of the project were both to create a strong identity and increased well-being in the area, and to have a sculpture that would light up a place that could previously be quite dark and therefore perceived as unsafe at night. Sputnik’s glass bricks are lit up from the inside, which makes the sculpture seem quite different depending on whether you view it in the dark or in the daylight. Have you seen Sputnik glow in the dark?