Shores of the Unconscious. An Artistic Research Project
The artistic research project, financed by the Swedish Research Council, investigates water as a symbol of the unconscious in the human psyche, and the deepest levels we can experience of connections to nature. References to tide, cosmic gravity and time travel are linked to prehistoric textile production and contemporary Western attachment patterns to Nature. The investigation is done in the form of practice-based artistic research, in a series of sculptural objects and two site-specific video works, produced in different natural landscapes and by the means of writing.
Writing is in this case used as a method to reach the unconscious in my own psyche, when I experience the contemporary natural landscapes that I adress.
Grassworks/Harvest
The site-specific filmed performance Grassworks investigates lost cultural landscapes and time. With references to textile handicraft, agriculture, and ritual, work with growing grass produces temporal constructions in the contemporary landscape that vanishes within in a few hours. This piece of artwork, with references to Sami Fiber Art, exists only for a short period of time, and then recycles back into nature. It is an artistic representation of the concept of impermanence; of transition and cyclic time, inherent in all that exists. The artistic intervention was undertaken in the landscape of the little village Järvnäset, on the border between Jämtland and Lapland in the North of Sweden.
The videoinstallation, was part of the artistic research project Sustainable Exoerience Art Park, funded by the Swedish Research Council. It was on display at University College of Art, Crafts & Design (Konstfack), Stockholm, Sweden, April 2013.
Trekking Woman
This filmed performance is an artistic site-specific investigation of contemporary human relations to Nature, in the form of outdoor sports. A female trekking tourist suddenly emerges in the North of Italy. After serious studies of maps and trekking handbooks, she eventually chooses to follow the stream Telo from lake Como upstream through the forests of the Intelvi Valley towards the border to Switzerland, heading for the river´s sources in the Alps.
In ancient times, this river was lined with little factories and water mills. Now these are present in the form of ruins along the shores. Unfortunately, the somewhat confused woman has misunderstood the maps and trekking as a sport. Instead of walking along the marked paths, she crawls and swims in the water, upstream. Her task is sometimes extremely demanding and difficult, and at times more easy. With this piece of work I would like to reflect upon and discuss eco-tourism and extreme sports, an expression for our sometimes rather absurd relationship to the natural landscape.