In collaboration with SOC.Stockholm until 2006 and thereafter in collaboration with Annika Drougge.
The fall of the Soviet Union, the notion of a world with only a single prevailing political idea and the rise of new utopian movements are the historical events that form a backdrop to the The Utopian World Championship (UWC).
UWC is a multidisciplinary and process-based art work in the form of an open, recurring competition in utopian thinking and writing, which has been arranged twice since 2001. The contest has attracted scholars, authors and activists from a broad range of disciplines, and from all corners of the world, who have one thing in common: a desire to describe their visions of a perfect society and to explain how we could get there. They have competed with academical, political or literary texts which have been evaluated by juries composed of laymen and experts in political science and utopianism. The first prize is 1.000 Euro.
The winner is announced at The Utopian World Championship Gala, which is the project's main public event. It's also an excellent opportunity to allow participants, jurors and the public to meet, develop the project and deepen the discussion. The second gala, which was held at Färgfabriken in stockholm in April 2005 was completed with a conference for visiting participants, jurors and invited guests.
The following part of the project's recurring cycle is the production and distribution of the printed document with the winning entry, the jury's motivation and other texts. This document is distributed for free to heads of state, institutions, NGO:s and individuals all over the world.
During the years following the UWC Gala we travel to countries with special significance for the competition. We've visited a number of countries over the years to participate in conferences, exhibitions and other events but also made longer trips to countries of special interest, as for example to Australia in 2003. During the tour we sometimes try to deliver the document to heads of state in person. In October 2003 Jon Brunberg met with the Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson. Read the whole story.
Much of the competition takes place on the project's virtual hub www.utopianwc.com. This is where the contestants sign up and submit their texts.
The project has generated numerous events and media articles over the years. See a list of key events further down on this page.
FACTS ABOUT THE 2ND UWC 2002-2005
Place and time for the 2005 gala
Färgfabriken in Stockholm
Gala: 2 April, 2005
Conferense: 3 April, 2005
PARTICIPANTS AND JURY
Winner 2005:
Dr. Cyril Belshaw from Vancouver, Canada. Professor Emeritus in Anthropology at University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
Runner-up 2005:
Per Norbäck from Vallentuna, Sweden. Founder of the local, direct democratic and internet aided political party Demoex.
Other finalists 2005:
Ted Trainer, Sydney, Australien
Robley George, Manhattan Beach, USA.
Ciprian Pater, Oslo, Norge
Neli Demireva, Sofia, Bulgarien
Mytchell Mead, Fort Collins, USA
Aisling O'Beirn, Belfast, Nordirland
Expert jury
(last selection together with the reference group)
Dr. Lyn Carson
Sydney, Australia
Lcturer in political science at University of Sydney.
Prof. Tom Moylan
Limerick, Ireland
Professor i contemporary literature and director for the Ralahine Centre for Utopian Studies at the University of Limerick.
Referece group
(first and second selection)
Jon Brunberg, Stockholm, Sweden.
Annika Drougge, Stockholm, Sweden
Anthony.T. Fiscella, Malmö, Sweden
Mats Frick, Stockholm, Sweden.
Karin Johansson-Mex, Malmö, Sweden
Johan Malmström, Stockholm, Sweden
Alexandra Martins, Lisbon, Portugal.
Sonja Schmer-Galunder, Malmö, Sweden
Participants in the conference
Dr. Cyril Belshaw, winner 2005. Vancouver, Canada.
Per Norbäck, runner-up 2005. Vallentuna, Sweden.
Anthony.T. Fiscella, winner 2002 och juror 2005. Malmö, Sweden
Jon Brunberg, project manacger and moderator. Stockholm, Sweden.
Annika Drougge, project manacger. Stockholm, Sweden
Oliver Kalleinen, guest. Helsingfors, Finland
Tellervo Kalleinen, guest. Helsingfors, Finland
Tuomas Finne, guest. Helsingfors, Finland
KEY EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE U.W.C
2001
March 10: Opening of the 1st Utopian World Championship at Culturen, Västerås.
June 30: Deadline for competing proposals.
August 31: The public elects seven finalists, SOC elects three.
December 20: A Jury composed of four people and one representative from SOC.Stockholm selects one winner.
2002
January 19: the winner, who uses the pseudonym T.R.O.Y., is announced at a prize gala at the Enkehuset Gallery in Stockholm.
July: the first version of the winner document i printed
May: SOC.Stockholm receives funding for the forthcoming UWC World Tour
August 23: The 2nd Utopian W.C. is launched in conjunction with the exhibition "The Public Opinion" at Kulturhuset Stockholm
August 30: Participation in Free Forum Gothenburg
September 10: Announcements and performance at the main square Sergels Torg in Stockholm
November 11: Utopian WC World Tour Australia workshop in SOC's premises in conjunction with the arts event "Southern Comfort"
Oct 12 to Nov 30: Utopian W.C. exhibition at Passagen Linköping in conjunction with the exhibition "Sex & Politics"
2003
Jan 24 to March 16: Exhibition with Utopian W.C. at the spring salon at Liljevalchs Art center in Stockholm
May 15 - 18: Participation in the ART+Communication festival in Riga.
July 25: Tropical Fun, a utopian one day event in the premises of SOC.
Oct 4 to 26: Exhibiton at Gallery Hlemmur in Reykjavik
Oct 7: Meeting with the Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson to deliver the final document from the 1st Utopian W.C.
Nov 1 to 8: Two members of SOC visits the Findhorn community in Scotland.
Nov 12 to Dec 5: Three members of SOC travels to Australia to meet utopians.
Dec 22: 50 Final Documents delivered by mail to Heads of State all over the world.
2004
Jan 30 to March 6: Exhibition at Temple Bar Gallery and Studios
Feb 15: Deadline to enter the 2nd Utopian W.C.
April 30: Dealine for submitting of proposals
May 22: Lecture at the Green Partys conference in Ronneby, Sweden
September: Start of the jury's work
December: the jury elects one winner
2005
Feb 4-5: Participation in Plan*B seminar in helsinki, Finland.
April 2: The Utopian World Championship Gala 2005 at Färgfabriken, Stockholm.
April 3: The Utopian World Championship Conference at Färgfabriken, Stockholm.
2009
Release of a new edition of the UWC Documents in cooperation with Raketa Press
2010
June 23-July 6, Participation in the Knot, Ursynów, Warzaw, launch of the third UWC
September, participation at Göteborg book fair, with Raketa Press, public talk with T.R.O.Y.
October: delivery of UWC documents to Maria Wetterstrand, spokesperson for the Swedish Green Party.
2013
September 26-29, 2013: Participation in Brioni Summit of Practical Utopias, Brioni, Croatia.
October: delivery of UWC documents to the heads of state of Germany, Finland and Croatia.