Death is the theme when students are invited to a three‑course dinner

The event, which is called Death Dining, is created by the artist Tove Berglund. For a long time, she has worked in what she calls a borderland between performing arts, performance, dinner and party.

"Or an artistically curated get-together, you could also say. It's about creating a heightened encounter where people relate freely between different expressions and practices," she explains.

The idea of Death Dining came when Tove Berglund was working on an art project on the theme of life events; baptisms, weddings and funerals. When the project came to the funeral event, the participants spent an entire evening visiting a cemetery before listening to speeches by a philosopher and a researcher who researches grief during the dinner at Uppsala Museum  . The evening was well received by the participants.

"I understood the need to approach death and burial and that the performing arts lend themselves very well to the conversations. The funeral rite is often linked to a grieving process and it is often within the faith community that we talk about grief and existential questions. In a secular society, those spaces don't exist, and I think the performing arts have the opportunity to offer those spaces there," says Tove Berglund.

Tove Berglund     

I'm going to come dressed in black and bring a funeral flower

When Döds Dining now comes to Östersund for three evenings in early May, it will look a bit the same as the previous arrangements Tove has curated. To be able to participate in the dinner, the participants must, among other things, come dressed in black, bring a flower that they would like to have at their funeral and bring an item that symbolizes life, transience or death. The evening begins with a soundwalk at the Northern Cemetery and then ends at Bua where a three-course dinner is served. And funeral beer.

In addition to Tove Berglund, the evening will feature composer Stefan Storm, Associate Professor Karin Jarnqvist, who has researched the meaning of rites, and photographer Maja Daniels. There will be funeral coffins on site that participants can try to lie in.  

"Students should be exposed to things that chafe"

Behind the event is Vice-Chancellor Anders Fällström and his project to bring together culture and art with academia. Previously, engineering students have been exposed to performing arts within the Science & Scenes project, and now it is time for nursing, psychology and social work students to experience culture within the framework of their studies.

"Perhaps the most important thing about these elements/projects is that the students should be exposed to things that chafe, opinions and thoughts that are a bit difficult and do not correspond to what we often think is normal. When students enter working life, they should be better equipped to meet a diversity of thoughts, opinions and cultures and thus be involved in developing the society of the future in a positive and good way. The fact that they then get a kind of education and cultural competence into the bargain is an added bonus," says Anders Fällström.

50 people per night can go

The idea and desire is that all professional education should include encounters with culture. Anders Fällström hopes that the students who attend Döds Dining will leave with a broader view of the end of life.

"For example, the nursing students, when they come out into their professions, will often be met by death and then I hope that the conversations that Death Dining has given them will make them even better able to handle it in their professional role," he said. he continues.

It is students from the psychology, nursing and social work programs who are invited to Death Dining. 50 people per evening can be accommodated and the event, which runs May 6-8, is free of charge. There are still places left, registration is due no later than April 17.

Nursing students in semesters 4-6 register for annika.kjallman-alm@miun.se

Social work students to magnus.israelsson@miun.se

Psychology students to elisabet.rondung@miun.se