Project Me

It is the final weekend for M. On Monday morning I shall drive a hire van over to Uppsala and with the help of Henny, the Art Cube’s artistic leader, pack it up and bring it back to Enköping. It suddenly struck me that I could recreate it at Glitter Ball over the Easter weekend when we might be having Open House at the studios. That could be good fun and give people here the chance to see it (-thank you blog, without you I might not have made that connection)!

Being invited to show in the Art Cube has been great. Not only has it introduced me to a range of new people in Uppsala, it has also enabled me to try new materials and ways of working – some of which I will pursue and some of which I may not. The two days installing in the cube itself reminded me how much I enjoy working in specific spaces and creating things in conjunction with particular physical environments. This afternoon at the studio I continued sketching out ideas for a piece Östhammar this summer. I am one of five artists invited to make new work to be shown in a Victorian era community Hall in the coastal and summer resort in the north of the county. To call it a community hall is not quite right but there is no easy translation or term in English as the concept of the societetshus is peculiarly Swedish. It was a venue for afternoon tea, dining and dancing, as well as for playing games and sports. They were often build on the coast where there was bathing in the summer months, and the building themselves were usually financed and run by the town’s regular summer guests – those with summerhouses in the area. The building in Östhammar has recently returned to being run by an association of local residents after years of ownership (and neglect) by the council. We will be exhibiting there for three weeks from the being of September.

Through a process of sketching, looking at the photographs that I took there on a ’study visit’ and period photos, and thinking about M I am going to try out some more abstract installation ideas than I had initially thought of. Until today I had been thinking about making sculptural work to place on and around furniture in the glassed in veranda. The veranda is in desperate need of restoration, as are the two floors above it, however this will not happen before out show and it is therefore one of the rooms where we can fix things directly to the walls and ceiling. Having hung camouflage net from the ceiling of the Art Cube, and remembering Play, I am interested to explore possibilities of working on the ceiling at Källör.

It is been on my mind to re-engage with my blog for the last few weeks (months?) however I have simply been too busy, or too in need of time doing something relaxing (sitting in front of a computer, even a nice one, is not my idea of a relaxing time) that I simply have not gotten around to it.

The is something (or more specifically two things) that I realise are causing me an uncomfortable level of anxiety, my hope is that expressing that here might enable me a little respite -though the resolution of the situation(s) is far from my authority.

In mid-December I was finally invited to submitted my passport and a stack of supporting documents to the Swedish Immigration Office so that they can assess my application for Swedish citizenship. The documents cover the last five years (I have lived here over seven now), they include all my employment contracts, the certificate showing when I registered as freelance/self-employed, my annual income/tax declarations for my freelance work, all the periods of study, any/all other sources of income including money transferred from or earned overseas, and in addition details of all travel outside of Sweden. This amounted to a hefty pile as I have had several short-term employment contracts – some for as little as a day (certain education institutions issue contracts rather than accepting invoices from us self-employed even if it is just for a one lecture) – and I have taken several short courses. The Immigration service now investigate my application with the primary aim of making sure that I can support myself. They can easily run a credit-check and see that I am not in debt. My concern is that they have a ’template’ or formula by which they judge whether or not someone can, and will continue to be able to, support themself. I have a consistently low income as do many artists and am well used to living simply and sometimes beyond the cash/visible economy – swapping skills and labour with friends and their networks. The problem with this way of living is that it is not documented. For the two and a half years that I lived with a friend of a friend I took care of her children in lieu of rent – a good deal for both of us but not for demonstrating a sustainable livelihood. Although (Swedish) friends and colleagues say that I should not worry and that as I have been here so long that there should not be any problem. I am however all too aware that an established family living on the same estate as me were denied right to remain despite both parents having jobs, them owning their flat, and having committed no crime nor drawn on unemployment or other benefits. The reason they were turned down was that a previous employer had underpaid the equivalent of national insurance contributions for a few months (a mistake which the employer admits to), this error however meant that during the assessment of their application they were deemed to have failed to fulfill the employment criteria. The family were forced to return ’home’ to a country that they no longer know or have any connection with*. The Immigration Office agreed that their regulations are unfair (punishing an employee for an employers mistake) at the same time as saying that they are not able to change them – only politicians can do that and that process has not begun. So I do not feel that I can take my application being approved for granted.

This alone would concern me. I want to be a full citizen in the country where I live. However in the light of the Britain leaving the European Union in a number of weeks the issue takes on a far greater significance. In the best case scenario I receive my citizenship papers on Monday allowing me to remain in Sweden no matter the outcome of how Britain leaves the European Union. The worst case scenario is that I am denied citizenship and the UK crashes out of the EU, this would necessitate me moving back to Britain where I would have to start over again. Between these best and worst scenarios are a plethora of variations, a myriad of complications and frustrations none of which I can steer. As nothing is certain my future is a tangle of ’ifs’ and ’buts’. If the time it takes to assess my citizenship application goes beyond March 29 and the UK either crashes out or even leaves on the current withdrawal proposal I could be in trouble. This is because current negotiations have secured some rights for employees but not for freelancers (this was recently reported in the Guardian). I am registered with all the Swedish authorities as a freelancer (freelancers in Sweden have the right to also accept contracted employment – PAYE work) as I suddenly non-EU freelancer I might not be able to stay here. I do not know how much time I might be given to pack up and leave. Should I follow France’s lead and prepare for a no-deal situation? That would be easy if I had my citizenship – I swap my Uk driving license for a Swedish one, make sure that I do not have outstanding British invoices, and brace myself for more expensive trips to see family and friends. Without it I truly do not know what to do … as I said in the worst case scenario I could be looking at having to give up my life here in ten weeks – sell my flat, leave the studio, cancel the shows at Glitter Ball, pull out of the exhibitions booked here for the summer and autumn … say good-bye to my friends …

Perhaps aware of the necessity to be distracted I have totally over committed myself to projects this January and February. On Thursday I spent a very happy day at the studio glittering over one hundred fake roses (and there are at least one hundred more still to be glittered) for an upcoming installation. I was not especially thinking about English roses when I choose them for the work, I choose them because I wanted to evoke cultivated species of formal and historic pleasure gardens. I am very excited about this work, it is a public piece that I was invited to make by Uppsala county. They approached me about the commission – I had been selected from a short-list that I did not know that I was on. It felt as though I had suddenly and unexpectedly reached another level as an artist. I hope that it does not become my Swedish swansong.

* The family were non-European and require a right to remain as well as citizenship.

On Saturday it was Glitter Ball’s fourth vernissage and the last of this first season.  I had not thought to ever show my own work as it seems a bit egotistic to run a showroom and show one’s own art, however this is where I find myself.  The chief reason for this being my fear of a low turn out on the day that marks the beginning of the Swedish Christmas period.  Christmas is big (BIG) here and not least the celebration of Advent, the Saturday before is the traditionally the first day of a multitude of Christmas Markets – and it is no different here in Enköping.  So rather than invite an another artist and risk them having a less than positive experience I decided to take the (potential) hit myself.   It was the right decision, I had a select number of guests all of whom I know and have built professional relationships with.  And this was despite a glowing article in the local paper that both previewed my show and reviewed the previous ones.

On the (absolute) plus side I had time with every visitor and both the discussions and my recounting of the Project (Following Eugène) were enjoyably rewarding.

to be continued ….

Browsing the news pages here I was surprised, and pleased(!), to read that not only is Sally Tallant about to take over as director of Queens Museum (NYC) but that she also has an OBE.  Sally is what I guess I could call (and to mis-quote Julian Clary – I think) my close personal art-world friend*.

 
Sally was in the year above me at Dartington College of Arts in the late eighties where we were both on the wonderful Art & Social Context course.  Dartington was a small (intimate) school and at the time had only just starting awarding art degrees so there were just two years of students.  To be honest I was rather intimidated by Sally.  Actually I was rather intimidated by most of second year students – they seemed so tough and together, and there was I an overweight, shy, awkward, closeted youg gay man from south-east Essex.  I don’t think that I exagerate when I say that art-school, and probably Dartington in particular, saved my life.  If I had not gone there I am pretty sure that one way or another I more than likely would not be around today.

 
By the time of Sally’s degree show I was on my way to having some confidence and I summoned up the courage to ask if I might buy one of the paintings in her show.  I think she wanted ten pounds for it.  I still have it and only recently was I thinking that when I (eventually) get around to decorating my apartment it will nice to show the few artworks by other artists that I have – of course including Sally’s.

The next time that I meet Sally was about six years later when I visited Bristol (where the Art & Social Context course had moved to a couple of years after my graduation) to ask a former tutor to be a referee for my application to the Slade.  Sally had gotten together with the tutor – another Sally – and they were both involved in the contemporary performance art scene in Bristol.  Thankfully by this time I was a much more mature person and was able to enjoy their company and hospitality.

 
I was accepted at the Slade and Sally at Royal College on their curating course.  We met up a number of times during our first years in London.  While I was dealing with the deaths of two close friends just as I was finishing my MA Sally was good at inviting me to the openings and events at the Serpentine where she had started in the education department.  When the Serpentine went stratospheric and openings became strictly A-list Sally and I used to see each other at other galleries.  I remember telling her about my plans to move to Sweden at the opening of the Royal Academy’s Summer Show.  It was about the same time that she had just been appointed director of the Liverpool Biennale.

 
And now I read what for me is a double whammy of her OBE and her move to Queens Museum.  The fact that I read about it rather than hearing it from her directly shows how we have lost touch again as our paths have taken us away from London and in very different directions.  I can not call Sally a friend now – to me a friend is someone whom I have regular and personal contact with – however that does not prevent me from being delighted to hear about her success(es) and wishing her all the best.

 
One thing that New York City and Enköping have in common is that they are a far far cry from the hilltop art school in the heart of the Devon countryside.  Life is fantastic and I hope that I never cease to be amazed at how it unfolds … I wonder if Sally and I will run it to each other at some time in the future.  It both would and would not surprise me!

* I am pretty sure that Julian Clary used the phrase ’close personal show-biz friend’ to refer to celebrities that he didn’t actually know, or not well enough for the to be really close or personal friends.  The insertion of ’show-biz’ was his way of referring to the lovey-ness of his profession where it can seem so important to give the impression that one is on intimate terms with the stars.