The Time and Space of Punishment 

Swedish criminal policy is currently undergoing rapid and far-reaching change, with prison sentences becoming longer, more frequent, and increasingly applied to young people — including children. At the same time, the temporal and spatial conditions of imprisonment are being reshaped through prison expansion and new forms of confinement. “The Time and Space of Punishment” is an interdisciplinary research project that explores and gives form to this transformation of imprisonment, with a particular focus on children and young offenders. By combining artistic practice with criminal law theory and pedagogical methods, the project investigates how the time and space of punishment are structured, experienced, and given meaning. The project will in the future produce an exhibition where image, text, and sound make visible how contemporary penal policy affects the lives of young people. Its aim is to make complex legal and societal changes accessible to a wider public and to foster reflection and dialogue on punishment, responsibility, and the future.

Participants in the project

Lisa Strömbeck is an artist born 1966 in Sweden and currently based in Denmark where she was educated at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. She is represented by Martin Asbæk Gallery in Copenhagen. Strömbeck’s work spans the media of photography, video and installation and embrace the contradictions of love, possession and power. A recurring theme is hierarchies, between humans or between humans and other animals, where her work trigger empathy for the less fortunate. Lisa Strömbeck has received numerous grants and awards and has exhibited internationally since the 1990ies. Her work is represented in public collections including Moderna Museet, The Danish Arts Council, Danish Film Institute, Uppsala Konstmuseum, Malmö Konstmuseum and many others.

Ulrika Andersson is a professor of criminal law at the Faculty of Law in Lund and works as a researcher and teacher in criminal law and criminal procedure law. Her research focuses on issues of law and power in a broad sense, particularly in relation to gender, sexuality and class, but also in relation to ethnicity and age. She is also known for her approach of incorporating theoretical and methodological approaches from other disciplines. Much of her research concerns the legal treatment of sexual abuse. She has also researched regulations on human trafficking, criminal law young people who commit criminal acts in gangs, and discrimination against patients in healthcare. In an interdisciplinary project, she recently investigated the demands for justice directed at the legal system in connection with the #metoo campaign. 

Anna Houmann is a professor of music education at the Malmö Academy of Music, Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, where she serves as Deputy Head of Department for Research and Doctoral Studies and directs the PhD programme in Music Education. Her research explores creativity, agency, and power in educational contexts, with particular focus on the role of uncertainty in creative processes and the possibilities available to teachers, students, and pupils to influence their conditions in school. Houmann frequently works in interdisciplinary settings, bringing together artistic, education, social scientific, and technological perspectives to investigate how learning and creative practices are shaped and transformed. She also develops artistic and participatory research methods within practice-based projects on electronic digital instruments and educational change. Through her research and teaching she fosters dialogue-based and co-creative processes. Her work examines how learning, creativity, and relationships are influenced by time, space, and institutional structures.