In 2017, Sweden’s Public Art Agency held a competition to develop public artworks for the West Link, a new transit hub to open in the city of Gothenburg in 2026. Among the winners was the Swedish duo Goldin+Senneby’s Eternal Employment, which proposes to employ a single worker at Korsvägen, one of the West Link’s new stations. The Public Art Agency characterizes Gothenburg as an “event city,” which is how it has been marketed since the 1990s; Korsvägen is located in the evenemangsstråket (“event district”) at the center of Gothenburg. Besides going to the station each workday, checking in when arriving and checking out when leaving, the job description specifies no duties or responsibilities. The labor consists of whatever the employee chooses to do while on the clock. The contract is full-time, of indefinite duration, and provides benefits akin to those of the average public sector employee as well as annual wage increases.
Eternal Employment is realized through the strategic investment of the competition’s production budget, under the premise that return on capital will remain substantially higher than average increases in wages. As the artists write: “Money pays better than work.” So long as that is the case, the worker will be employed. What follows is the job listing, which was written by the Swedish poet Lina Ekdahl and translated by Linda Schenck. The text is inspired by the language of comparable listings found on the Swedish Public Employment Service. Applications are due by December 15, 2025.
The Eternal Employment Foundation Address: Korsvägen (“the Crossroads”)
SE-412 54 Gothenburg Sweden
www.eternalemployment.com
Place of employment
Gothenburg, Sweden
Job description
We’re looking for someone who wants to shape the Korsvägen (“Crossroads”) Station of tomorrow.
Thanks.
We’re looking for someone who wants to be right there. Where the roads meet. Where they cross. Right at the crossroads. We’re looking for someone who wants to be there. Right there. You don’t hesitate. Thanks! Thanks for not hesitating! Thanks for daring! Thank you!
We think you want to. We think you want to shape. We think you want to create, to participate, to sing out, to crack a joke. Thanks! Thanks for wanting all that! Thanks for your creativity! Thanks for your musicality! We think you’re made of music. All of you is music. This whole city is music. There’s always been music here. You’re part of that music. You want to be. Thanks! Thank you for the music! Thank you for wanting to be a part in shaping the Korsvägen station, its rhythm, its tone, its melody!
We think you’re a person who loves the sea. We think so. We don’t just think so, we know so. Everybody loves the sea. You want to be near the sea. In the sea. By the sea. In the city by the sea.
There’s a scent. Do you smell it? The scent of something. We smell it. It’s seaweed. You’re seaweed. You want to be seaweed. You shall be seaweed. Eat seaweed. You can eat seaweed. You know that. Thank you for knowing! Thank you for the seaweed. Thank you for the scent of seaweed. Thank you for the harbor! Thank you for the sea! You’re standing there. Right there. Standing there like what? Like a prawn! A positive prawn! A flexible prawn! An unpretentious prawn! A goal-oriented prawn! Thank you! Thanks!
We think you’re an event. An event at the event. Right there. You’re standing there! Thank you, thanks for standing there!
Yes, indeed, we use exclamation marks! Sure we do! Look! Do you recognize yourself! You’re a mark! An exclamation mark! The mark is a sign! You can sense it. Your sense is right. This is a job. A full-time job. You hear that! You hear right! There’s work. Work in the worker’s town of Gothenburg. Sounds good! Sure sounds good! Employment. Permanent employment. An eternal permanent employment. A sign! A sign of the times. A sign from a time, from a different time, from a past time, but Oh my god, just a sign! Thanks!
This sounds good, it sounds real good, it sounds like music, music coming from the sea, the scent of the sea, the rhythm of the sea, the melody of the sea! Don’t hesitate, apply, we long for you, we need you, we’re looking for you, we love you, we love your precision, your scent, your profile, your attitude, your positive attitude, your social skills, your deep commitment to wanting to take part in developing what Korsvägen has to offer. The soul of Korsvägen. The potential of Korsvägen. The tone of Korsvägen. The rhythm. The event. The big event. The huge event. You’re passionate about the event. You’ll grow. We’ll grow. Everything will grow. No one knows where it will end up. No one knows where it began. Why it began. Who began it. No one knows who thought of it. No one knows who thought of the very idea, started it all up. We don’t know. We’re worried. We can’t take it anymore.
We think you can see. We think you see us, we see that you see us. Our shortcomings. We think you can hear us. Our tense tone. Our fear. Our incapacity. You like Gothenburg. Of course, so do we. We always have. Everybody likes Gothenburg. Do we like Korsvägen? Hard question. Help us. Apply for the position. Unusual. We know. But it’s a job, an entirely ordinary job. Well, maybe not entirely ordinary. It’s free. A free assignment. We think you’re free. We think it sounds like that. You sound free. You look free. Alert. Friendly. Open.
We can’t take it anymore. Apply. Take over. Thank you.