Supermarket day 1
Yesterday’s meetings (’Meetings’?) went well. Some where a little off topic … or perhaps rather the topic was the catalyst … starting point … for an unexpected direction. The meeting about working at the edges became something more overtly political than the moderator had anticipated. It was an incredibly interesting and thought provoking discussion demonstrating a breadth of realities, intentions, and ambitions of artists working through and across the dimensions both edges and also, implicitly, borders.
Sitting in meetings sets in motions thoughts around Glitter Ball – what and or how might it be … what can it be. Again the intersection of various dimensions shift and sparkle. How could GB organise residencies? Who could we collaborate with? What capacity does GB have? How … where … can GB exist between the concrete and the conceptual?
I am fascinated by the things that others artists are able to conjure … to make real.
What I can make real?
Supermarket day 0
Really enjoyed the Forum event, VIP Opening, and Open Evening. It’s great to see the booth finished and to hear the presentations from some of the exhibitors. I kind of wish that my fellow artist/collaborators for Juxtapose were here … mostly to be inspired by the range of approaches adopted by the booth. On the other hand it’s probably good that Glitter Ball finds its own way of doing things.
I have never closed out the opening evening before but somehow I was there until the end. This year I didn’t bring my running shoes so there’s no sense of having to get up and get out early every morning. I’m simply too tired and have too much to do … this morning I submitted my application (?) for the Uppländska salong – the triennial open organised by Uppsala Art Museum and the Uppland Art Association. I have sent the maximum of three works – one tie drape, a woven paper piece, and a wall mounted assemblage. I have the highest hopes for the assemblage being accepted – the tie drape will most likely (hopefully!) be recognised as having been shown in last year’s Spring Exhibition at Liljevalchs, to be honest I included it so as to remind the selectors that I was in that show! The paper weave is probably a bit too much for art association – if you know what you are looking at its not that hard to see glimpses of penis … and the materials listed includes ’vintage gay pornographic magazine’ … on the other hand the museum and guest curator might convince the association to include something queer.* The assemblage has, I think, the best chance of being selected – it’s whimsical, simple, thought provoking, and modest in size. Giving it the title ’poodle’ in parenthesis makes is accessible and playful. I would be delighted if it is accepted.
* I am very interested to see the exhibition, whether I am selected or not, to see how diverse a range of artists are included – I certainly have the impression that the majority of artists in Uppland are heterosexual and white, and that the majority of those working in the arts and sitting on boards of art associations are also heterosexual and white, and that they don’t know what to do with anything outside of their own sphere of experience – I am more than happy to be proved wrong!
Supermarket day -1
Nice calm day for me. A few more registrations for the Meetings – a couple are nearly full, others have yet to attract a registration. I don’t got around the booths and ask about interest in Meetings while the exhibitors are setting up – they have more than enough to be getting on with!
My visit to the charity shop to borrow some more chairs and a coffee table was fruitless. They don’t have sufficient stock to loan out more than the three sofas that were borrowed over the weekend. So the Meeting Room won’t be as cosy and eclectic as I had hoped.
I am both looking forward to and a little nervous about sitting on with every meeting. I am sure that after the first meeting it will feel natural and make sense. My ambition is to take care of the the ’housework’ – making it easier for the moderator/host to focus on the discussion.
It is amazing how quickly the time passes here. I can’t claim that it was a particularly productive day but things have been done, conversations had … and that is what it’s about.
Supermarket 2025 day -2
As soon as I arrive at the venue the last year collapses in on itself and I feel as though it was only yesterday that I was here. It’s so nice to see the team again. I am certainly one of the older generation – not simply chronologically, but in that I have been involved in the fair, in one way or another every year since 2011 – that’s fourteen years! And then there are the exhibitors too … many of whom I have gotten to know over their regular participation. Of course some exhibitor names are familiar even though the members/artists attending the fair differ from year to year.
I love the sense of anticipation in the exhibition hall, the almost palpable focus and concentration as artists make real the booth that they applied for six months ago. This year I am seeing all of this with new eyes … in ten weeks time it will be me, and at least two other artist/collaborators, putting together our presentation at the Juxtapose art fair. Shoes will be on other feet!
Yesterday I sent L and R’s proposals for a performance and a participatory event to Juxtapose (deadline today). That sounds so formal … I could equally say that I let Pam and Cecilie know what L and R want to do. Pam and Cecilie are coming to Supermarket over the weekend, and we will be meeting for brunch on Sunday morning. I definitely have a professional friendship with Pam who I have gotten to know through the Meetings and Think Tanks programmes. Going to Juxtapose as an exhibitor/participant is incredibly exciting and feels like a great step in re-engaging with … re-activating … Glitter Ball.
M and I submitted applications for travel funding to help us get to Aarhus. I have been in touch with a couple of artist-run initiatives in Copenhagen – one of whom I know through Supermarket and Juxtapose – who we will visit on our way back to Sweden.
The blindingly obvious only struck me a while ago … much of what I do is about making connections. That might be connecting people, as I do with the meetings programme at Supermarket. It might be making connections between artworks as I do with my curatorial work. It might be inviting other people to make connections with art as I do with my pedagogic work. It’s almost a little embarrassing to only now realise the connection between these practices and some of the materials that I use – ties. I mean literally second-hand and deadstock men’s ties . What are ties if not connections?
Interestingly the Swedish for tie is ’slips’. Of course it has nothing to do with slips (English) as in small mistakes, lapses, errors, or misses … and yet in my head there is of course the aural connection. Unlike the word tie, which in English is both a noun and a verb, slips (Swedish) is simply a noun describing the (now) decorative fabric item worn around a shirt collar. In my head though the synapses fire and momentarily connect ties (noun, strips of fabric) with ties (verb, the joining of things) with slips (verb, to slide) and slips (noun, lapses and errors).
Writing the letter of support the artists showing with Glitter Ball at Juxtapose Art Fair made me think about what my ambitions for Glitter Ball really are. It took a couple of days, some cycling between home, gym, and studio, and some post gym stretching and some cooking to come up with this:
Our aim is to support, expose, and facilitate engagement with and across, practices that might otherwise remain annexed or isolated.
I think that quite neatly sums things up! It is explicit without being restrictive. It creates structure without limiting possibility. It encourages thinking and defines terms for framing activity. I feel that this is a sentence that I will often return to.
Participating in Juxtapose is exciting. I don’t really know what to expect in terms of outcomes. Being there is an outcome in itself, however I am curious see what opportunities might arise and what trains of thought are set in motion. Focussing on projects makes sense now that I don’t have a regular showroom. I like the idea that one or maybe two projects per year is something that is sustainable with my minimal resources, and that no two projects need be alike.
Participating in an art fair is a project, so would be an exhibition exchange programme, or facilitating a residency, or starting a reading group.
I am reminded of the characteristics of a/the physical material glitter ball – it is multi-facetted, reflective, in-motion. It is precisely how I want to work. When I chose the name Glitter Ball it was because I wanted something fun – Glitter Ball showroom & projects (2018) came several years after creating the first glitter ball artwork (2009) and a few years after my attempt to establish ’glitter as methodology’ (2014/15). Now I can see that beyond the trashy, brash, kitch, and camp there is something intelligent, sensitive, necessary, and hopeful in those little sparkles of light in an all too darkening world.
