Project Me

Just as realised that it was almost time to ‘close’ yesterday my phone rang. It was Eva, who I first met when I visited her studio during last year’s Vår konst, she apologised for being late and wanted to know if it was alright if she and a friend came by. A few minutes later she and her friend were at the door. Eva works with fabric, she also collects and exhibits vintage fabric (mainly Scandinavian designs from the 50s, 60s, and 70s), and she runs workshops and courses in pattern design and dressmaking. She lives and works a little outside of town in two former light-industrial buildings that are the Teda Art Project.

It was good fun showing them what I do and talking about being artists. Our discussion turned to economics and politics – and our shared motivations for moving out of cities in order to pursue our practices without the pressure of high rents. As we were saying goodbye Eva asked if I was free that evening as she was having friends for dinner and would like to me to join them.

I had a lovely evening in great company and with a fantastic Italian dinner. Eva lived in Italy for several years and the friend that was with her early is Italian but moved here to be with his Swedish girlfriend – he now imports and supplies Italian food to restaurants in and around Stockholm, so we had some amazingly good fresh mozzarella cheese as well as the great seafood and pasta dish that Eva made. It was a totally unexpected and absolutely perfect end to the day.

Getting together in each others studios with other artists and friends over good food is, and has been for a long time, a vital part of artists’ lives.  I look forward to similar evenings at our new studio!

What I liked about the pace of visitors on Friday was that I was able to spend time with each of them. There was only one occasion when two groups overlapped. With the kind of work that I make, and with my intentions and ambitions for my practice, it is important to me that we have time and space for discussion. The artworks are often points of departure for thoughts and ideas that unfold and expand in the presence of the on-looker. Sometimes the discussion does not travel so far from the starting point, other times it takes massive leaps. It fascinating to meet people and have the opportunity to have very opened conversations with them. The last visitors yesterday afternoon were a father and his young daughter, they live in a neighbouring building and popped in on their way home from visiting several artists in town. We talked about creative processes and materials – the daughter loves to make things and is particularly good at origami – but also about some of the symbols and references in various works. As our ‘tour’ came to a natural conclusion the father, who introduced himself as not knowing anything about art, said that he really enjoyed visiting me because there were stories with every piece. He could not have said anything more valuable to me – he so neatly and spontaneously validated why I do what I do. I do my best to create things that stimulate interest and invite engagement, and it is always wonderful when it works.

Deciding to participate in the town’s Easter Open Studio weekend has been interesting – and it is only the first of the four days that I am ‘open’. I spent the last week installing my own work throughout my apartment. Play and Odyssey (which I put up almost as soon as I moved in) have been joined by three other pieces in the living room. Some of the ‘curatorial’ decisions were made for purely practical reasons, and as a result some are more successful than others.

When initially thinking through what I might like to show I had conveniently forgotten that the majority of the walls are concrete skimmed with no more than four millimetres of plaster – I am very thankful that I have the long-term loan of a SDS drill. Even so it meant that a piece that is pinned to the wall necessarily had to be placed over the bed on the one plasterboard wall in the room. The placement works really well – probably far better than the one that I had had in mind. A large irregular shaped patchwork that is also pinned to a wall could had to be relocated to the hall/library where the only other plaster wall is found. It works well there but left an uncomfortable gap in the living room. Selecting catalogues and publication for the library shelf reminded me of a piece that I had overlooked, that piece now hangs in the living room where I had imagined that the patchwork would be. However it is the placement of that ‘substitute’ piece that I am not one hundred percent happy with – materially and tonally it is very similar to the nine embroidered handkerchiefs hanging over the bed. As a result the living room has become a room of two halves – one half being white and gold textile pieces, the other being black glitter works. Play which is black and glittery hangs in between. The curation is neither wrong nor too bad, but is it a little too easy and I would like it be a little more dynamic.

Knowing that I usually take far too much time writing a new post is preventing me from writing any posts at all! This is an attempt to write a quick post before too much time passes and the thoughts and events that seem so urgent become superseded or simple lose their shine.

I had a very nice evening in Uppsala on Wednesday when I was presented with my award. Daniel Werkmaster, director of Uppsala Art Museum, gave a brief presentation of why I was selected, I received the actual award and a bouquet from Maria Fregidou-Malama (who sits on the culture committee), and then I was invited to give an acceptance speech! I am proud to say that I managed to do it un-prepared and in Swedish. There were awards presented in dance, music, and literature, as well as honorary awards for history and theatre design, and a two-year ‘development’ award for a musician. It was lovely to one of a truly diverse and interesting group, and to feel part of the cultural community in my adopted county and land.

I was also in Uppsala the evening before (Tuesday), with two other members of the steering committee at Enköping’s konsthall, for the regional arts’ associations annual general meeting. The meeting, as well as the discussions in the car on the way there and back, made me realise that I have quite different approaches and ambitions for the kind of exhibitions and events that I am keen to work with. It will be a good test of my abilities (and language skills) to find good ways to suggest extending and expanding the scope of the konsthall’s programme. I find it hard to judge if the difference of my opinions are based simply on being who I am, or on my not understanding the role and function of a konsthall. No doubt it is a combination of the two (and probably a great many other factors too). I look forward to seeing how my ideas go down!

Friday Klas and I spent a very enjoyable day cleaning and chatting in our new studio. Klas had already made a start during the week however there was/is still plenty to do to make the former garage/ car repair workshop into the kind of place that we (both separately and together) want as studios. Economically it makes sense to see if anyone is interested in subletting the smaller third room, though both Klas and I spoke much more about the exciting possibilities of it being a showroom and/or project space for visiting artists. Our discussion rounded off with us considering the idea of it being principally a showroom with the possibility of artists hiring it as a ‘clean’ working space between shows/projects. It is fantastic to talk things through with Klas, for every similar and shared idea we have he offers something new or adds something else – I only hope that he feels that I do the same. One thing that we both are keen on is creating an active and lively place – the kind of place that other people want to engage with, a place for ideas, discussions, dreams, and of course art. I have a good feeling about this!

Before going to the studio I had a meeting with Johan in the parks department. From the 18th he will be my boss when I begin as one of the team of extra seasonal staff taking care of the various parks and gardens in and around the town. On Friday though we met to discuss the well-established annual ‘Gardens’ Day‘ that Johan co-ordinates. He is interested in introducing visual art to the day – ideally he would like to see some land-art and site-specific installations as these are particular passions of his. Thankfully he is thinking more about 2018 than 2017. Though he would like artists to get involved this year too. Without a budget it will be tricky (nigh on impossible!) to pull off something spectacular this September. I can imagine that a good many local artists would be interested in the possibility of an ‘art-fair’ as it offers opportunities for both promotion and actual sales. So I proposed that temporary fencing be offered for artists to hang their work on – in an outdoor type of salon-show/fair. I was thinking of Urban Art in Brixton, and even the paintings hung on Hyde Park’s railings along Bayswater Road. It would be great to find some artists who might be more inspired by Joshua Compston’s ‘Fete Worse than Death‘, I am not holding my breath but I am prepared to be surprised!

At just after 8.00 this morning I signed a contract on a studio that Klas and I are going to share.

The space is a former garage, and has most recently been the clubhouse for a motorbike club! It needs cleaning and painting but is a good solid building with the basic facilities that we need. It will easily accommodate two medium size studios and in addition there is amble storage, a small kitchen, and toilet. We might sublet the largest ‘store room’ to another artist who is interested in having somewhere “dark” to work, if he is not interested then we could perhaps have it as a shared workshop area, hire it out on a daily or weekly basis, or even have it as a gallery/project room.

Although it is not as central as I might have liked, it is very affordable(!) and right next to the train station which makes it more attractive for Stockholmers to visit. The contract is on going with a notice period of three months which means that I/we are not too bound. There is another vacant space directly above, and hopefully some of the other artists who expressed an interest in having studios will take that on.

It feels like a significant step forward not only for me but also for establishing a bigger and more accessible ‘art-house’ in town. Cycling away this morning I noticed a rather large and completely empty industrial unit not far away – the sort of place that could easily offer fifteen good size studios, material workshops, an exhibition space and education room ….

This time last week I was at Supermarket art fair. I was there as both a participant on their PNP (Professional Networking Participants) programme, and as part of the Talks and Performance programme. The two, quite distinct, experiences were both incredibly enjoyable and rewarding.

The PNP programme is in its second year and is aimed at individuals working independently and those who do not have (or do not wish to represent) a physical gallery/project space. There were about twenty of us on the programme though we rarely if ever were all together at the same time. Those of us with shared interests and ambitions quite quickly found each other and spent a great deal of the fair in each others’ company at the various talks, discussions, and meetings. Being actually involved with the fair’s programme and other attendees is very different from simply being a visitor. Being a ‘PNP’ gave me a framework for speaking with the various exhibitors, projects, and speakers that initiated conversations that went far beyond the often awkward dialogues that I have had when approaching them as an artist – the awkwardness is entirely my own and probably stems from feeling that I should talk with them rather than wanting to talk with them. It perhaps also reveals that I find it easier to present myself as a ‘professional networker’ than as an artist!

I particularly enjoyed meeting, and speaking with, Jasmin Glaab of Kunsthallekleinbasel, who runs a gallery in her apartment. Having listened to her and several other artists who use their homes as showrooms and project spaces I am seriously considering running a similar kinds of thing here. It could be a nice way to continue working with other artists once my year with Konstfönster Joar is done. I really appreciate all the tips and advice that I received as opening up my home to both artists and the public seemed a bit daunting to start with, but I am starting to imagine how it might be possible. It would be very interesting to see how it works in a town such as Enköping. If I do do it then the number of venues for contemporary art here would have increased by 300% in two years. And if Klas and I show other artists at our studios the increase would be 400%. If nothing else that should be newsworthy and perhaps generate even more artistic interest in the town!

My participation in Supermarket’s talks and performance programme was as one third of The Artistic Researcher – along with Antonie Grahamsdaughter and Karin Gustavsson. We proposed, and did, was something that we called ‘Hothousing‘, which was more live research than performance art. Each of us was interested to invite people in to our ‘research process’ so we devised ways in which to do this. We each had our own greenhouse that we re-fashioned according to our particular interests or project. I created a quite private space where my guest/visitor and I made mono-prints directly from each other’s bodies. The guest selected where we would take our ‘companion’ prints which give them authority to determine the level of intimacy that would occur between us. Having said that the close proximity that we had to each other in the small interior – curtained in vintage bed-sheets – evoked (in me at least) a heightened sense of intimacy and gave making even the simplest hand print a very particular sensibility.

The piece was the fourth iteration in the Following Eugène series. Although I could not name my expectations for the event my feeling immediately after the first time were somewhat mute and subdued. However reflecting on it during an early morning run the following day I was able to identify thoughts and ideas that would not have come to me without the evening before. In this the piece functioned exactly as it should have done – opening up previously unimaginable possibilities for development and extension.

The second time I did it my first guest turned out not only to be a very interesting curator but also someone who works part-time at the Royal Library and knew of the archive that I referred to (without naming) in my introduction to what we were about to do. We continued to have interesting conversations over the subsequent days when I was not in character (Mr Dandy Blue).

It was only on the third and final time, on the Sunday morning, that I had two men as guests. Immediately that we established that they wanted to take part I became very aware of how different I felt about what we were about to do. I did my best to behave as I had done with my women visitors however I think that I was very unconsciously conscious of another kind of feeling knowing that I would be speaking about and touching these men’s bodies. Both of them chose places that required different types of interaction than any of the other visitors up to that point (my last visitor was a woman who chose to do prints of the upper middle part of our backs). As the print process is mutual the choice of where the print is taken is experienced both actively and passively, as both artist and model, as both subject and object. Neither man chose particularly intimate places, the first chose the outside of the right ankle, and the second the soft area just below the elbow on the inside of the right forearm. However both these places resulted in us resting our limbs on each other as we first applied a light lotion, then the ‘ink’, as we took the prints, and as we removed the excess and drying ink after taking the print. I did not ask any of my visitors / collaborators for feedback on their experience – though many freely gave it by saying ‘that was fun’, ‘that was interesting’, and by thanking me for spending time with them, one said that it was something she will remember for a long time. For me it has been interesting to reflect not only on doing it with each person but also on doing it with different people on different days.

Two children and one adult decided to keep the print of their own body, the others elected to take the print that they made from my body. Those prints are now out there in the world, and here beside me I have a collection of prints of those people’s bodies – traces of a few moments that we spent together one spring weekend in Stockholm ….