Future policy Gnestopia, artwork by Kultivator at Art Lab Gnesta

Sunday July 22nd was the last day for Gnestopia; it had then been alive and growing for six weeks in our exhibition space at Art Lab Gnesta. It was conceived and constructed by Kultivator – an experimental cooperation of organic farming and visual art practice based in the rural village of Dyestad, Sweden – in collaboration with Gnesta 4th- and 5th-graders. Since the opening in early June, visitors have added their specific thoughts and wishes for the future and seeds have grown to blossom and fruit.
The playful, optimistic mood of Kultivator’s three-dimensional policy document was matched by the subtle and anti-monumental qualities of Grassworks, a video by Emma Göransson. Two hands braiding grass at the shore of a lake, a single voice humming; a celebration of the repetitive, the impermanent, the scarce, the indomitable.

Grassworks, video by Emma Göransson at Art Lab Gnesta

Oh, did I forget to mention Fält (“Field”)? It’s the brand new magazine launched by Art Lab Gnesta; first issue reflecting Green Year 2012 in a summertime mood. A large number of photos – from different photographers, sites and projects – produce a flow of blue, orange and green shades through the pages, while texts (in Swedish) provide food for thought, literally: on food-making as art, mindfulness and a middle-class lifestyle project; on long-term experiences from local biodynamic farmers; also about the Finnish art-and-forest initiative of Mustarinda, about a Mongolian yurt on a tiny island in lake Frösjön, and the mind of the osprey… Here’s the link:

Fält