May 2025 residents

Mattias Berg
Culture journalist and author
19.05.2025 – 01.06.2025

“I am a culture journalist and an author, having been deputy head of the culture department at Dagens Nyheter and for ten years head of the culture department at Swedish Radio. Recent years I have wanted to create culture journalism on my own again. Not the least with a radio program series called Secrets of the Museums. Now, Spring 2025, I will finish my employment at the culture department at Swedish Radio – to focus even more on writing.”

“My first novel dealt with atomic weapons, published in 10 countries (English title: The Carrier). Currently I am finishing my second novel, that deals with mass extinction. Focal point is the authentic 19th century zoologist Georges Cuvier, at the Natural History Museum in Paris, who proved the existence of extinction. Cuvier also conducted the infamous autopsy of Sarah Baartman, “The Venus of the Hottentots”. Her remains were displayed at the MusĂ©e de l’Homme in Paris well into the 1970s.”


Rebecka Cardoso
19.05.2025 – 01.06.2025

“I’ve been active in the performing arts field for nearly twenty years, working with both independent groups and institutions. My major artistic themes are women’s experiences and perspectives, as well as the human relationship to God. I’m interested in people’s longing for connection with themselves and each other, and to our collective need for spiritual and ritual spaces. In my performance Clownsejd, I’m combining mask techniques from Commedia dell’arte with shamanic divination practices.”

“In my work with CLOWNSEJD, I seek opportunities for collegial exchange of experience around clown/mask techniques. In Paris, I am visiting two mentors who have had a significant impact on my Commedia experience so far: mask maker Etienne Champion, whom I hope will deepen my understanding of the wooden mask I use in CLOWNSEJD – and Mariana Araoz, who, through her Paris-based company La MEG, offers masterclasses in the “In Balance Method”, which forms the very foundation of how I use the stage.”


Oulia Makkonen
Postdoctoral Researcher
05.05.2025 – 01.06.2025

“I am a postdoctoral researcher working on remediation of KotĂ©ba, a West African theatrical form, onto screen media within the African Literary Metadata (ALMEDA) project, based at Uppsala University. My research background is in cultural history and religious studies and my research explores various aspects of circulation and aesthetics in African film and screen media.”

“My time in Paris will be spent on archival research at the Institut national de l’audiovisuel, which is one of the key repositories of audiovisual material pertaining to KotĂ©ba.”


Katta PĂĄlsson & Ulrika Malmgren
05.05.2025 – 18.05.2025

“Darling Desperados founded by Ulrika Malmgren & Katta PĂĄlsson is a non-profit company working since 1987 with performing arts, theatre, film. Since 2018 we work with VR and 360 film in combination with actors. We started with a burning desire to make dreams come true and change the world – to make a theater that exists on its own terms, beyond the traditional performing arts.”

“Darling Desperados – Katta PĂĄlsson & Ulrika Malmgren were inspired by Théâtre du Soleil early on in their artistic career. During our stay, we start writing a fantasy around two of the actors who worked in Molière’s company, during the 17th century and today. We are interested in investigating the conditions of the female actor and, together with our own experiences, let ourselves be inspired by the thoughts and ideas of Ariane Mnouchkine, Suzanne Osten and the French playwright Marie NDiaye.”