Oct 20, 6 pm
anna kindgren / carina gunnars
The dismantling of the welfare state or how we resisted television and suddenly faced the great transformation
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We work as one collaborative artist and have developed a totally new sensibility for the situations in which we engage. This is apparent in the places/commissions/works that we are involved in. Always from the standpoint of us as the artist, with eyes that perceive several dimensions simultaneously. We see possibilities for a critical approach to our own position. We are trying to hear something that is around the corner. Places as far apart as the little municipality of Tierp in Sweden and the mega-city of São Paulo in Brazil add a constant series of new layers, and we continuously learn new things about our times and ourselves.
We try to unfold things rather than develop them. Friction and resistance provide possibilities for reflection. With unheard voices, questions often meet with silence, ignorance takes on form.
The recent neoliberal revolution in Sweden has made us reassess the financial and political situation that is gradually engulfing us—both locally and globally. Our objects of inquiry are Swedish institutions and cities. Among other things, we have explored the urbanspace and the limitations it imposes on citizens’ activities as it becomes increasingly regulated by commercial interests. A research trip to Brazil inspired our interest in the urbanity we encountered there. We have developed a project that focuses on some ideas and impressions we have had for several years: the erosion of the communal or the tyranny of many small interventions.
Efficiency and creativity in real political/ economic terms might not work in real artistic practices. The words have been pushed into forms we do not recognize. With aesthetic means it is possible to choose connections that can be subverted, often hidden or obscured. Every situation contains a possibility for reflection and action. Loss might find. Time is with us.
For more than 6 years (2000–2006) we worked on the project/platform «love and devotion.» (Ingrid Eriksson, Carina Gunnars, Karin Johnson and Anna Kindgren, www.loveand devotion.org). The book «1% love and devotion at Ulleråker’s Hospital» ed Helena Mattsson and love and devotion was published in spring 2006 by «Glänta förlag.» We graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå University, Sweden in 1996 (cg) and 1997 (ak). We work with different materials and formats such as exhibitions, books, video, photography and official art commissions, commissioned and self-commissioned. A work of art can contain one or more of these formats.
Exhibitions, projects, publications, etc. (selected): «love and devotion» at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 2002–2003, «love and devotion» in Vita kuben, Norrlandsoperan, Umeå, 2003–2004, Slutspel? love and devotion at Midlanda konsthall, Timrå, 2004, Sundbyberg A–Ö, Marabouparken, Sundbyberg, 2005, Sambarchitecture, Botkyrka konsthall, 2007; «If walls could speak», Kerava Taidehalle, Helsingfors, 2007; Urban scenes, Tumba gymnasium, 2008; IASPIS, artists in residence, Stockholm, 2008–2009; BAC, Baltic Art Center, Artists in Residence, Visby, 2008; NKD-Dale, Norwegen, Artists in Residence, 2009; Going Places: Rethinking tourism, Visby, 2010; We are all cultural workers, Konsthall C, Stockholm, 2010.