Arrived at the KRO (National Artists’ Organisation) apartment yesterday afternoon and was pleased to discover that I am staying in the room with a view. It feels pleasantly familiar to be here again – my third (possibly fourth?) time staying here. KRO also have an apartment in Paris perhaps I should look into staying there sometime during my sabbatical … finances permitting!
The meetings programme has been printed and placed in every exhibitor’s pack. Now I need to send an email to the information coordinator letting here know that I will be coming with the sign-up sheets – from past experience I can’t imagine that there will be a rush to register for meetings but one lives in hope.
First though a short run … inspired by, or remembering, my time in Riga I want to go for a short run each morning. This might be ’compromised’ by a few late nights … and by relocating to a friend’s apartment for the night that I was unable to book this room – logistically inconvenient but a great opportunity to spend time with P!
I am also really looking forward to catching up with the exhibitors who I have gotten to know over the last few years … it feels as though I am starting to build some kind of professional relationship with them … though in writing that I realise that is might well be less true than I imagine – recent experience bears that out! One of the things that I have let slip … not managed to maintain … is a good mailing list for when I have exhibitions … nor do I use Facebook, or even Instagram, for inviting people to openings … it’s a bit different letting them know about what I am doing, and by that I mean posting pictures on Instagram of things that are underway or have even passed … I think that people still appreciate getting an invitation to an event – I know that I do! So that is another thing for my sabbatical year ’to-do’ list: update mailing list, and re-acquaint myself with Facebook.
And of course I am excited to meet the first time exhibitors and to find out about them. As my confidence grows I feel better about speaking with them as peers – which is what they are. It also makes me think that I would like to re-activate Glitter Ball … in some instances it is useful … meaningful … to have an organisation rather then being an individual … and there are some things that I don’t want to simply hand-over to the artists’ club or that aren’t appropriate for the club. Thinking about N’s advice to use my position at the club to get my own projects going … it would be good to have some collaborative Glitter Ball Uppsala Artists’ Club events happening in the future … perhaps the series of talks that I want to organise cold be this kind of collaboration – that is well worth considering.
Early Saturday morning. Despite a busy week and being tired I woke early … I do enjoy feeling as though I have the city … the world … to myself while everyone else slumbers and sleeps. I remember being the first to wake even as a teenager.
Tomorrow I head in Stockholm where I will be until the following Monday. I am excited and nervous about Supermarket – both familiar feelings regarding the fair. The meeting programme was finalised and sent out last weekend – this year exhibitors can both sign-up in advance and at the fair … hopefully this combination satisfies those who like to plan and those who don’t! It’s my third (technically fourth but 2020 doesn’t count) as the meeting coordinator and I am finding my way with it!
I have set myself a task … challenge … goal … for this year’s fair, and that is to be active in promoting myself as an artist. A couple of things have recently happened that made me aware that some people think of me as a organiser/curator/educator rather than a practicing artist. Now that I am familiar with some of the exhibitors I am going to start by asking them about their exhibition/project programming … if that feels comfortable I might even ask some exhibitors that I don’t know! I would really like to find somewhere in another country to show next year … or in the next two years – and Supermarket is an (the!) ideal place to start some discussions.
Unfortunately the funding application for the residencies in Riga was not successful so I won’t be going there this summer. However I have said the I want to speak with Kaspars about other possibilities of being there … perhaps organising my own kind of residency … and I still want to see if there is away of him running a Black Hole residency here – the artists’ clubs funding application was also unsuccessful so there’s no money to that in 2024. Not going to Riga is a disappointment but it does take the pressure off this summer and means that I can visit P in southern Sweden and have a proper break.
Yesterday at the studio I identified the third work that I want to show at Lövstabruk – in the group show this summer. I don’t know why but I got in my mind that I should show three pieces … and now I have them selected – which is a relief. The last piece needs … should be presented in … a glass vitrine/cube so I am going to get in touch with the museum and see if they have something that I can borrow. It feels really good that I know the team there well enough to ask such a question … fingers crossed that they have something. On Thursday I sorted through other older works and materials that I thought might be suitable but nothing spoke to me … and then on Friday as I was doing something else my eyes fell on a small(er) piece that has been standing in the studio since I moved there. Not only has it been in plain sight but it’s been something that I have frequently had to move as it is rather delicate and an awkward … vulnerable … shape. I am very grateful for that moment of clarity … and vision … yesterday – Mr Dandy Blue’s Lepidopterarium will be getting a second showing!
Having too much on is making me pragmatic. It has been interesting to look at which existing works fit with this themed group show … and by ’look’ I mean think through, re-consider, re-configure, and play around with in my mind. Maybe being professional isn’t just about making work but it’s also about making the work work! There are only a handful of pieces that I have made that have been shown more than once … Tender, the patchwork punchbag, and Play, the original video tape installation … and once I sent some previously exhibited pieces to a show in Glasgow – they were chosen (by me) for purely logistic reasons and restraints, and then Sara Rosling selected two older works for the Uplandska Salong last year It makes sense to show existing works in thematic group shows – the different contexts affording or drawing attention to particular aspects that always already existed – extending the thinking around the work … and that is very exciting.
