SPARK is a collaborative platform and exhibition space in Malmö with the purpose of strengthening the interface between architecture, art, research, and societal advancement. The aim is to promote artistic processes in architecture and urban development by activating intersections between the spatial and artistic disciplines.
SPARK presents work that provokes critical discourse on the built environment through explorative, experimental, trans- and interdisciplinary practices. SPARK is founded as a non-profit member association and collaborates with Lund University Department of Architecture and the Built Environment, Sveriges Arkitekter Skåne, Molekyl Gallery among others.
Current exhibition
Sofie Højgaard (DK)
Soulmades
30.10–29.11.2026
Opening Friday 30 October 17–20
SPARK, Båstadsgatan 4, Malmö
The exhibition Soulmades explores a nearly forgotten architectural tradition: the making of doors, houses, landscapes, and other mades for souls. Through history, architecture has functioned as a mediator between human and non-human worlds, not only organising human activities but also shaping connections to other entities and modes of existence such as the soul.
Soulmades investigates building for souls as an ecological inquiry, drawing on contemporary ecophilosophical theory. If the soul is understood not as individual or immaterial, but rather as something that connects and transcends distinctions between human and non-human, individual and collective, life and death, then the soul becomes a question of relations.
Through a series of projection drawings, collages, and imprints, the exhibition brings together historical examples of architecture for the soul while speculating on contemporary examples that materialise relations between humans, landscapes, and other forms of life.
Sofie Højgaard is an architect, writer, founder of PLATFORM, and study assistant professor at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen. Her artistic and academic work revolves around ecology and metaphysics, thematising the reciprocal relationship between architecture and cosmology. This theme is researched particularly through investigations of burial grounds, ritual spaces, and conceptions of the afterlife across cultures and historical periods. Through her projects as well as her teaching, she asks how spaces of transition between life and death can take form in a time of a changing worldview.
SPARK residency 2026
We are overwhelmed by the interest and engagement generated by our open call for the SPARK 2026 residency at Ifö Center in Bromölla. In all, we received over 200 applications from qualified candidates. The selection process became challening with so many interesting proposals and artistic practices, but we are now happy to announce that have now selected and confirmed the residency with our final candidate.
Selected artist-in-residence: Paul Chung (HK)
The SPARK 2026 resident is Paul Chung. He is a Hong Kong-based multidisciplinary practitioner operating at the intersection of architecture, digital fabrication, and ecological restoration.
Paul's proposed project aims to "transform the industrial history of [Ifö Center] and the Skåne region into a tangible, regenerative future. I intend to perform a material-driven experiment by synthesizing local industrial remnants—specifically foundry sand and ceramic waste—with geological materials like raw clay and agricultural fibers. By employing these local resources, I plan to develop a series of floating ecological infrastructures. These modules will act as hybrid scaffolds that facilitate the colonization of native flora, effectively turning polluted industrial waterfronts into sites of active biological revival."
"Through this residency, I aim to push the boundaries of material symbiosis, exploring how digital manufacturing can collaborate with raw, 'imperfect' natural materials to create structures that adapt and grow over time. My goal is to transform the physical site of the residency into a living laboratory, translating the conflict between industrial output and natural resilience into a coherent, field-tested architectural proposal."
The SPARK selection committee found the project's different strands – reuse of material remnants, digital fabrication and ecological infrastructures – to be both forward-thinking and sensitive to the site and its industrial and geological heritage. With an impressive portfolio of realised projects in a similar vein of exploration, Paul Chungs proposal has an artistic and architectural potentiality that we look forward to seeing explored.
Updates from the residency will be posted on the website and social media.
SPARK would like to thank everyone who applied for the time and effort to formulate an idea and motivation for a project. We hope to be able to offer more possibilities for residency in Skåne in coming years, as this pilot will hopefully lead to the establishment of a recurring residency program focusing on the intersection of spatial practices, artistic research and material exploration.
The SPARK residency programme 2026 is funded by Region Skåne.
Find more information about Ifö Center (in Swedish)