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Ten new additions to Sweden’s hit mouse restaurant

Earlier in December The Local wrote about how anonymous artists had created a detailed slice of a mouse-sized world in Malmö, hiding a tiny shop and restaurant at ankle level on one of the city’s streets.

Published: 14 December 2016 12:06 CET
Updated: 14 December 2016 14:30 CET
Ten new additions to Sweden's hit mouse restaurant
The mouse-inspired artwork in Malmö is growing by the day. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Since then, the work of “Anonymouse” has gained international headlines and become a phenomenon in the city, not only attracting spectators, but also enthusiasts who have contributed their own pin-sized pieces of art to help the installation grow. Here are ten things that have been added to Malmö’s hottest restaurant (and shop) since opening a week ago…

1. Cheese. And lots of it.

If the wisdom imparted by Tom and Jerry is correct (and who would doubt them?) cheese is the food favoured by mice, and unsurprisingly plenty of that has turned up, starting with a few blocks of Swedish favourite prästost…

… and followed by a huge pallet of the stuff.

2. Patrons

With that amount of cheese on offer, it was only a matter of time before mice started flocking to the area, and it’s now looking pretty busy.

 

 

Love is in the air #noixdevie #anonymouse #malmomice #malmömössen @anonymouse_mmx

A photo posted by sigunsdotter (@sigunsdotter) on Dec 14, 2016 at 1:39am PST

3. Drunks

With popularity also comes a few bad eggs (or rather, bad mice). This duo partied so much they were still sitting outside on the street in the morning…

 

Våra möss har efterfest på Bergsgatan. @anonymouse_mmx #anonymouse #noixdevie #malmö #möllan #malmömössen #malmomice

A photo posted by sigunsdotter (@sigunsdotter) on Dec 10, 2016 at 8:38am PST

4. Festive treats

Someone was kind enough to bake and deliver a batch of miniature Swedish saffron buns to the restaurant. Swedes eat buns called lussekatter or lussebullar during the festive period, and in particular on December 13th, the day saint Lucia is celebrated in the country. It was only fair that the mice had a chance to do so too.

5. Posters

Part of the brilliance of the original artwork was the small details which hinted at a world beyond, such as a few posters for mouse-related performances and films attached to the wall.

Enthusiasts have taken that idea and developed it, with the previously small collection of posters now crammed with additions.

 

Cutest place in town … #noixdevie #anonymouse #iltropolino #mouserestaurant #malmö 

A photo posted by Linda (@lindasinstaworld) on Dec 12, 2016 at 12:40pm PST

6. A cat

With so many mice in one place, this was inevitable.

7. Public transport

Everyday mice being denied easy access to their favourite spot would have caused outrage in Sweden. Thankfully the location has now been connected to Malmö’s public transport network for mice.

This tiny bus sign shows that the number 146 bus can be caught from outside “Il Topolino” – a clever detail, as the 146's route really does go down Bergsgatan, the street where the mini restaurant is located.

 

Nu med kollektivtrafik #anonymouse #iltopolino

A photo posted by Johan Jonsson (@glvstn) on Dec 13, 2016 at 4:06am PST

8. A mousetrap

There’s always one…

9. A Christmas present

The owners of “Noix de vie” deserve something in recognition of all the attention and happiness they’ve brought to Malmö, and someone has obliged by delivering a Christmas present to them.

10. Queues

As all the contributions and Instagram pictures suggest, the biggest thing that the installation has gained is attention. So much so that there are now even queues just to see it. Malmö's hottest restaurant indeed.

 

Trängsel och köer. Svårt att få bord på Malmös hetaste krog. #anonymouse

A photo posted by Jan Peter Andersson (@janandkvp) on Dec 12, 2016 at 10:46am PST

SHOOTINGS

US criminologist lauds Malmö for anti-gang success

The US criminologist behind the anti-gang strategy designed to reduce the number of shootings and explosions in Malmö has credited the city and its police for the "utterly pragmatic, very professional, very focused" way they have put his ideas into practice.

Published: 8 March 2021 16:12 CET
US criminologist lauds Malmö for anti-gang success
Johan Nilsson/TT

In an online seminar with Malmö mayor Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, David Kennedy, a professor at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said implementing his Group Violence Intervention (GVI) strategy had gone extremely smoothly in the city.

“What really stands out about the Malmö experience is contrary to most of the places we work,” he said. “They made their own assessment of their situation on the ground, they looked at the intervention logic, they decided it made sense, and then, in a very rapid, focused and business-like fashion, they figured out how to do the work.”

He said that this contrasted with police and other authorities in most cities who attempt to implement the strategy, who tend to end up “dragging their feet”, “having huge amounts of political infighting”, and coming up with reasons why their city is too different from other cities where the strategy has been a success.

Malmö’s Sluta Skjut (Stop Shooting) pilot scheme was extended to a three-year programme this January, after its launch in 2018 coincided with a reduction in the number of shootings and explosions in the city.

“We think it’s a good medicine for Malmö for breaking the negative trend that we had,” Malmö police chief Stefan Sintéus said, pointing to the fall from 65 shootings in 2017 to 20 in 2020, and in explosions from 62 in 2017 to 17 in 2020.

A graph from Malmö police showing the reduction in the number of shootings from 2017 to 2020. Graph: Malmö Police
A graph from Malmö police showing the reduction in the number of explosions in the city between 2017 and 2020. Graph: Malmö Police

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In their second evaluation of the programme, published last month, Anna-Karin Ivert, Caroline Mellgren, and Karin Svanberg, three criminologists from Malmö University, reported that violent crime had declined significantly since the program came into force, and said that it was possible that the Sluta Skjut program was partly responsible, although it was difficult to judge exactly to what extent. 

The number of shootings had already started to decline before the scheme was launched, and in November 2019, Sweden’s national police launched Operation Rimfrost, a six-month crackdown on gang crime, which saw Malmö police reinforced by officers from across Sweden.

But Kennedy said he had “very little sympathy” for criminologists critical of the police’s decision to launch such a massive operation at the same time as Sluta Skjut, making it near impossible to evaluate the programme.

“Evaluation is there to improve public policy, public policy is not there to provide the basis for for sophisticated evaluation methodology,” he argued.

“When people with jobs to do, feel that they need to do things in the name of public safety, they should follow their professional, legal and moral judgement. Not doing something to save lives, because it’s going to create evaluation issues, I think, is simply privileging social science in a way that it doesn’t deserve.”

US criminologist David Kennedy partaking in the meeting. Photo: Richard Orange

Sluta Skjut has been based around so-called ‘call-ins’, in which known gang members on probation are asked to attend meetings, where law enforcement officials warn them that if shootings and explosions continue, they and the groups around them will be subject to intense focus from police.

At the same time, social workers and other actors in civil society offer help in leaving gang life.

Of the 250-300 young men who have been involved in the project, about 40 have been sent to prison, while 49 have joined Malmö’s ‘defector’ programme, which helps individuals leave gangs.

Kennedy warned not to focus too much on the number of those involved in the scheme who start to work with social services on leaving gang life.

“What we find in in practice is that most of the impact of this approach doesn’t come either because people go to prison or because they take services and leave gang life,” he said.

“Most of the impact comes from people simply putting their guns down and no longer being violent.”

“We think of the options as continuing to be extremely dangerous, or completely turning one’s life around. That’s not realistic in practice. Most of us don’t change that dramatically ever in our lives.”

He stressed the importance of informal social control in his method, reaching those who gang members love and respect, and encouraging them to put pressure on gang members to abstain from gun violence.

“We all care more about our mothers than we care about the police, and it turns out that if you can find the guy that this very high risk, very dangerous person respects – literally, you know, little old ladies will go up to him and get his attention and tell him to behave himself. And he will.”

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