Detours

 

Detours

Every once in a while I take a detour from my photography to explore other artistic fields in order to stay creative, confront myself with new and challenging ideas. Those projects are a part of my creative and playful nature which I try to use in cross disciplinary ways.  

 
 

KIND AT HEART

Over the past couple of decades, I've watched intolerance and hate rise and fall in waves, each time returning a little stronger, a little louder. I see the way real issues—things we should be working on together—are hijacked to fuel division. How complex problems are twisted into simple blame games, with minorities and the vulnerable cast as villains. The tone of public conversation has become toxic, and the space for kindness, nuance, and understanding is shrinking.

I don't believe in fighting fire with fire. I don't want to add more shouting to an already deafening world. But I also can't just stand by while intolerance, anti-science, and anti-democracy movements gain ground. I don't want to go to bed at night feeling like I've let cruelty become the norm.

So I created Kind at Heart. A way to take a stand—quietly, but unmistakably. A simple, visible symbol of tolerance, humanity, and kindness. A heart you can wear to show that you are not part of the noise, the hate, or the division. That you believe in fairness, respect, and progress.

This is not about politics. This is about being decent to each other. About refusing to let intolerance become ordinary. About showing, in the simplest of ways, that a different world is possible—and that it starts with us.

 

WORD! & Well Said

I really tried to find a flashcard app that would help me expand my vocabulary in a new language I am learning. But to my surprise there was nothing out there that I felt like using so created ‘Word!’, an iPhone Flashcard app that I actually enjoy using every day.

And because learning words only goes that far I developed a second app called ‘Well Said’. This app allows the user to freely speak and record every day sentences that the app then will translate to the target language. The idea here is to practice sentences that one actually uses in an everyday setting, sentences that relate to one’s life.

Both apps are available in the Apple App Store.

 

SAY WHAT?

"Say What?" emerged from a personal need to assist a family member who was experiencing difficulty hearing and understanding spoken words. Before the app, we relied on notepads and flash cards for communication. While this method was resourceful, it became slow and cumbersome over time.

The introduction of OpenAI's technology, capable of converting spoken words into written text, presented a clear solution to ease communication challenges faced by many. Our primary aim was to develop an app that was straightforward and easy to set up, free from unnecessary or confusing features.

Initially designed for use on an iPad, placed between two people in conversation, the app allowed one person to speak while the other read the transcribed words, displayed upside-down on the screen. As the app evolved, its potential for facilitating communication in various settings, including while traveling, became evident. Thus, we expanded its compatibility to all iOS devices.

Today, the app represents a fusion of practical technology and minimalist design. It will continue to evolve with advancing technology, but simplicity remains at its core. There are no logins, no sign-ups, and no tracking of personal data. It's simply a versatile tool for communication, designed for anyone, anywhere.

 

Imaginairy

Paris, my current hometown, is known for its amazing cafés that serve as an extended, public living room for its inhabitants. As I enjoy my daily aperitif and sip on a martini, I can't help but observe the people around me. I often find myself wondering about their backgrounds, where they come from, and what they might be thinking about while sitting just a few feet away from me.

Fueled by my insatiable curiosity, I harness the power of AI to delve into the deepest secrets of the strangers I encounter on the streets of Paris. Using my keen observations and a lengthy dialogue with an artificial intelligence, I craft intricate profiles and vivid images of these mysterious individuals, imagining their hidden desires and deepest secrets.

Each week, I will add a new subject to my collection, building a rich tapestry of human experience. But even as I piece together these imagined lives, I can't help but wonder - am I uncovering their true selves, or is this just a figment of my own imagination?

 

Braiking News

Braiking is an AI-driven platform that offers ethical counterpoints to mainstream news. Instead of simply reporting events, Braiking AI analyzes them through the lens of morality, democracy, and the common good.

Using advanced AI models, this platform examines global news stories and highlights their ethical and humanistic implications—revealing how certain decisions may negatively impact society, democracy, and human well-being. Without directly critiquing the news sources themselves, Braiking provides an AI generated perspective that encourages critical thinking and deeper reflection.

In a world where headlines often shape public perception, Braiking serves as a counterbalance, questioning narratives that normalize inequality, exploitation, or injustice. This is not about generating fake news—it’s about using AI to expose what’s ethically at stake in the decisions that shape our world.

 
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Phoesy

Phoesy is poetry made by using a phone and its auto suggested words when tweeting or texting. Start a poem by choosing a word or topic you would like to write about. After that you can only select from the auto suggested words to create a meaningful sentence.

The idea behind Phoesy is to express yourself in a relevant way by using the limited amount of options given to you by your smartphone. The auto suggested words are a combination of your vocabulary used when communicating with others, as well as preset suggestions created by your phones software.

Often the outcome of a poem created by using the phoesy method is rather positively surprising due to its spontaneous and unpredictable nature. Let yourself be carried away by your subconscious mind and the help of a device you already use on a daily base and start writing honest and fresh poetry.

 
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Mail trail

Mail Trail is an artistic project where postcards, containing personal reflections, are being sent on a journey to complete strangers anywhere in the world, with the hope that they will or might develop further in someone else’s mind.

In one way it is meant to let go of some of my own thoughts that keep occupying my mind, but at the other hand I assume that I wish to inspire some thoughts in someone else too who might not have been at all in that particular frame of mind when receiving and reading my card.

I have no idea what happens to the card once it is sent since there is no way for me to track it or for the receiver to get in touch with the sender (me). But if you happen to be someone who has received such a card and for some strange reason stumbled across this page, please do get in touch.

 

When Have You Last…

Once a humble venture, this project began as an assortment of small, printed cards (measuring roughly 6x6cm) that I would inconspicuously scatter in various locations for unsuspecting passersby to stumble upon. With the element of surprise on my side, my goal was to challenge these individuals to engage in an activity they may have long forgotten, prompting them to embrace life's simple joys amidst the whirlwind of daily obligations.

Designed to be a thought-provoking catalyst, the project aimed to halt someone in their tracks and inspire introspection, whether it stemmed from the message on the card itself or simply served as a gentle reminder to allow ourselves the luxury of pausing and reflecting on what we may have left behind in our busy lives.

Embracing the digital age, this spontaneous initiative has since evolved into a collection of virtual cards, featuring a rotating selection of short messages that are frequently refreshed to provide ongoing inspiration.

 
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Let me lose myself

Let me lose myself is an invisible exhibition hosted in the multivalent, unique cultural heritage site that is the Woodland Cemetery in Stockholm. The site-specific sound artworks have all used the space as a point of origin in different ways.

The audience is taken on a journey beyond the geography of the place, a journey where new interior and exterior pathways are activated. The sound art pieces are downloaded onto a mobile phone or an mp3-player, making it possible for the visitor to explore the space and the exhibition independently and at his or her own pace.

The number of episodes will gradually increase from the beginning of the project in May 2011 up to its close in December 2013. By adding new layers of sound art over a longer period the project echoes the way the cemetery was built by the architects Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz in various stages and over many years.

 
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Be Part Of Me

Be Part Of Me is an artistic experiment, a traveling USB memory that stores shared information from strangers we have never met in our lives. It is just like a message in a bottle, but instead of simply reading what’s in it, you are asked to add specific information to it and throw it back into the “sea” of society.

 
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Detourism

Detourism was a unique curatorial project working with video art projections that cut through the city architecture to quietly disturb the everyday urban rhythm. The artworks, in conjunction with the carefully selected locations, offered alternative routes out of the physical sphere we all share. Detourism as an activity, challenged and encouraged the individual to break out from the self constructed landscapes of reality and open temporary doors to the unfamiliar - if only for a split second. 

 
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Quelle Belle Vue

Quelle Belle Vue is an art/design/architecture blog showing a collection of works of beauty I have come across online as well as offline while living my life in Zurich, Stockholm, New York and Paris.