Sölvesborg's political board with the Sweden Democrats, Moderates, Christian Democrats and the Sol Party got through its action plan on Monday evening which among other things means that the municipality will avoid purchasing what is considered "challenging contemporary art".

The governing parties that go by the collective name Samstyret mean that from now on, the municipality should instead prioritize the purchase of "classic and timeless art".

At the same time, Sölvesborg's cultural and library manager, Sofia Lenninger, points out that during her years in the municipality, only a few purchases were made at all. Neither could anyone who could be considered challenging.

- I do not see that any purchases have been made during the approximately ten years I have worked in the municipality of Sölvesborg which can in some way be categorized as challenging. Right now we have a decoration of Anna Svensson in a school in progress, before that one of Matti Kallionen. In addition to the few purchases, Sofia Lenninger writes in an e-mail to the Cultural News.

The one percent rule is removed

The action program developed by the Samstyret, which was passed through on Monday, also shows that the municipality's one percent rule, introduced in 2015, will be abolished. The one percent rule, which is more of a recommendation rather than a rule, means that one percent of completed construction investment is earmarked for artistic decoration. The abolition describes as Sofia Loans as worrying.

"From the cultural administration's point of view, we see it as a risk that funding for artistic designs will fail when the one percent rule is removed and that we return to a situation where art is purchased on the initiative of individual politicians and according to personal taste and taste," she writes.