By examining the rise and fall of the Swedish Millennium Monument, this book aims to explore the clash between visions and reality in relation to the emergence of new technologies in Sweden around the turn of the millennium. The monument illustrates a new kind of lavish public art that emerged in the mid 1990s and consisted of large physical interactive monuments. Although meant to last forever, they often became short-lived.

The book tells a story of visions of new technology, interdisciplinary research and urban regeneration. It is also a story about what happens when these visions clash with reality. The book builds on research from two previous projects on digital art, funded by the Swedish Research Council, and compiles previously unexplored archival material. By approaching the monument not primarily as public art, but as a technological artefact, this book challenges the notion of these kinds of lavish ventures as failures. Instead, they are examined as physical manifestations of their time.

The project uses art to examine a crucial change in our time. This is important as it contributes to a critical examination of the impact of digital technology in Sweden during a time permeated by visions of digitalization.

A research stay at Cornell University will strengthen the book’s international perspective, and lay the foundation for a potential future collaboration on doctoral level between Uppsala University and Cornell University.