Designed by Note, Waiting Windows is a site-specific art installation inspired by passing train windows.
The installation was commissioned by the municipality of Nacka, Sweden in celebration of the Stockholm subway expansion set for completion in 2027.
The expansion includes the construction of a rail link between Central Stockholm and the Nacka municipality in addition to three new stations.
Waiting Windows is composed of an array of oblong frames made from polished stainless steel. The frames of varying sizes are placed in a “gentle curve evoking the shape of a Stockholm Subway station”.
“Waiting is a poetic frame of mind, but it’s often considered something of a void in our daily lives,” said Daniel Hecksche, Note architect. “We have to do it, but if you allow yourself to actively occupy that moment rather than be passive, then it becomes something else altogether – something that’s not to be seen as wasted time. On a subway platform, you’re witness to small slices of everyday life as trains slip by – each passing window acting as a pinhole camera snapshot of the lives happening inside.”
“We chose not to make Waiting Windows a ‘digital’ piece, explained Charlotte Ackemar, Note product designer. “Our lives are already full of digital worlds in which people don’t meet other people physically. Note’s spatial work is always about leaving with the sense that you’ve experienced something real and tangible. This installation will not have any guidelines to how it should be use, no background text as you might find in a gallery. It’s for the people of Nacka to decide its purpose and meaning.”
