Beginning next Monday, 27-year-old art student Miriam Wiskemann will be the sole caretaker of an uninhabited island situated off the coast of Sweden. The petite island of Marsten, measuring merely 180 metres by 50 metres, is a frequented spot for kayakers and paddle boarders during the warmer months, but for a significant portion of the year, it is exclusively occupied by a colony of cormorants.
There is a condition: Miriam must relinquish her custodianship in June 2027. She is among a select group of fortunate recipients in a competition initiated by Visit Sweden. The official website of Visit Sweden clarifies that the objective of this undertaking was to demonstrate that “genuine luxury is not about extravagance, but rather about time, space, and equilibrium.”
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Miriam, along with four other individuals from various global locations, will be granted a year-long usage tenure and a travel voucher valued at 20,000 Swedish krona, approximately £1,590. The prize does not encompass permanent settlement, and there are no structures present on the island.
Miriam, who is pursuing a degree in art, intends to dedicate some time on Marsten in September, seeking creative stimulus for the concluding project of her illustration degree. She remarks: “The primary reward is, in fact, the journey itself.”
Miriam, hailing from Dusseldorf in Germany, is currently studying at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design. She expresses her aspiration to eventually pursue a master’s degree in Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden.
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The art student, who has resided in Sweden for a year, communicated to the German news agency dpa: “Sweden simply offers a more tranquil rhythm of life that I have frequently found myself longing for back in Germany. This excursion is going to occupy all my thoughts for the remainder of this semester.
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“I will take the opportunity to explore the island by bicycle and draw considerable inspiration from my surroundings,” she stated. “Having this privilege to travel there will undoubtedly have a significant impact on me.”
“The natural environment of Sweden and the pronounced contrasts between its seasons have consistently been a profound source of inspiration for both me and my artistic work,” she added.
Marsten belongs to a small archipelago situated approximately four miles off the western shoreline of Sweden. There are over 267,000 islands scattered across the Swedish coast, and a key objective of the competition was to heighten public consciousness regarding these numerous islands.
VisitSweden’s campaign, titled “Your Swedish Island,” garnered nearly 2,500 applications from individuals across 100 different countries. The other laureates originate from Canada, the USA, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Each of them will assume the role of caretaker for their own secluded island for the duration of the upcoming 12 months.