From yesterday’s elderly artlovers – partly somewhat blasé – a sudden turn to younger minds. Distance yields for active involvement; action alternates with reflection. Ebb, and flow… Today, the process seems to have reached a node – not coming to a close, but to a resting point. Tomorrow, the beginning of another week.
Saturday is opening day at the other artspaces in the block… and for the first time, there’s the occasional visitor who shows no sign of interest; just another stop on their round, a quick glance with a connoisseur’s glasses on, before heading to the next gallery… But there’s been other kinds of encounters, too – between laughter and (almost) tears. The prolonged view. Paying homage to a worn-out blanket. Aesthetics and/or sincerity? Thank you, Lena, Birgitta, and all of you whose names I don’t know!
In the morning, I had a visiting group of students from the art class that I’ve shared the last weeks with, and their teachers. As I asked them to find an inherent theme when rearranging the material, they responded with an almost wordless collaboration – and a spontaneous installation from fabrics, tape and paper cups. Over the next hours, pairs of visitors kept dropping in… exchanging thoughts about space, body matters and grandkids; about Daniel Buren and giving up control; and the pleasing state of being banal.
Day 3: soon, playful surprises in unexpected places – left from yesterday – would yield for an extreme makeover. A cohesive team worked hard for two hours, mounting large canvases and little drawings… while fruits & flowers were put on display in the storefront. Thank you Birgitta, Susanne och Christina! And thank you, Karin, for superb documentation (to be seen elsewhere)!
May 11th: a day of breathing, of extended attention. Nearness; distancing; returning… The beginning of a longer rhythm? A visitor’s intervention intuitively connecting manifestations of motherhood and childhood; frailty, and a hidden treasure. In the evening, a sharing circle opens up to playful, gentle joy. The sky is clearing. A rainbow.
May 10th: from white walls in an empty space… to a meandering dialogue in words and making. Thank you for the installation, Walter! Thank you for creating cosmos from chaos in darkness, Lena! Thank you for your time and courage and collaboration, Mats and Mats! Thank you for the world opening down the rabbithole, Thea! Thank you – each one not mentioned by name – for your perspectives, your interest, your warm professionality! This is what I hoped for, in more than ample measure.
To my joyful surprise, I recently got the opportunity to attend a Winter Symposium with the Nordic Summer University. It took place in Latvian countryside, close to a natural reserve (and out of reach for the internet).
The venue, of course, is an extremely powerful tool in the set-up of such a gathering; framing the whole process, contributing to how knowledge is produced, shared and interpreted.
The overall theme for the NSU Study Circle 7 is The experiential in artistic practice: methods, knowledges and reflective processes. Over three days of Easter, a lovely bunch of artistic researchers, academics and practitioners presented their research and shared practices – as well as hot sauna and icy swims.
Learning about feminist strategies by printmaking, about regenerative farming in Latvia as a base for textile art, and the importance and implications of Wanderlust… Learning from Finnish and Latvian dancers, British artists, a theatre director from Tampere and a Polish philosopher… This has been a unique and inspiring experience in so many ways – not least thanks to Ulla, our exceptional chef! I hope to meet again…
…as I hope for peace, for human awareness towards all earthly beings, and the rebirthing forces of spring.
…and I’m free. Birds are still singing, sun is warm. Clouds passing. Future’s come. And, here’s the text (in Swedish, with English abstract):
Thinking Practises; the Artwork Reconstituted as Essay
160627; graphite pencil on paper, 28 x 21 cms
Registration day at the Royal Institute of Art (Stockholm)
And then… and then, one late summer day I found myself once more a student at the Royal Institute of Art. On September 1st, the new semester began – immersed in sunshine and jazz music – with a speech by new director Marta Kuzma. Then official photographing on the lawn. And for me, a space in the graphic department. I bring the object from Mr Benetton, and install myself.
Now, that’s already two full months since, and my main project is slowly evolving. It’s connected to my studies at the Södertörn University; I could say I’m attempting at bringing art to the academic world, as well as academia to the art world. Or: that I’m exploring what can be lined up in written sentences, and what can be reflected on a surface only.
From the studio: a set of wood panels being prepared.
And from the writing desk (for Swedish readers): a reflection, finished in June, about painting with the help of facilitated communication, in relation to texts by Mechtild of Magdeburg, Friedrich Nietzsche and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Om språk, tanke och det kroppsliga livets möjliga riktning mot frihet.
Helena Hildur W. 