Wire Works I-V, 2011

Wire Works I-V, installations made with iron and porcelain barbed wire, is a kind of method developed to investigate spatial ideas. My fascination for barbed wire, the form as well as the conceptual image, grew out of a trip to South Africa a few years back. The wire is so ambiguous and contradictive. How can something so threatening at the same time be so beautiful? The wire communicates an image of surveillance and protection as well as exclusion, all depending on which side the spectator finds him/herself.

Wire Works V / Inre gräns, yttre gräns II,

Multeum, Strängnäs, to January 28, 2012

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Wire Works IV / Inre gräns, yttre gräns

From the show Fem Markörer, Nyköping, September 2011

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With kind support from Myrorna, Uppsala.

Wire Works III / Rolös, detail

Wire Works II / Cages

at NCECA Project Space: Migration

NCECA 2011 Annual Conference, Tampa Convention Center, Florida

March 30- April 1 2011

Further info at: http://nceca.net/static/projectspaceartists.php

From an international pool, ten artists whose conceptual and material conversation takes them beyond the confines of their kiln were selected by jurors Portico Bowman, John Bryd and Linda Ganstrom. Each artist was provided a raw space of 10’ x 20’ and a stipend to present a live on-site specific installation or performance based artwork that explores the theme of migration during the 2011 NCECA conference. Funded in part by an NEA grant, Projects Space is intended to act as a platform for experimental and innovative work that stretches the confines of the contemporary ceramic field.

In Wire Works II a large-scale piece built from porcelain and iron barbed wire was constructed, gradually closing its maker into a cage like structure, a network of wire that eventually, by the end of the work process, was impossible to enter- or exit. Wire Works was an installation piece that commented on migration and geographical borders, physical boundaries and the space in-between. The work posed questions like: Why are we so often scared of the unfamiliar? Why do we feel a need to protect, fence our selves in and build walls to keep the unknown outside? Who’s captive and who’s free?

I want to express my gratitude to NCECA for inviting me and to all the people who helped me on site in Tampa: Ian Meares, Casey McDonough, Portico Bowman and many others. I also want to thank all the conference visitors who came by my project space to talk and help in the work process. It was amazing to meet you all and hear your opinions on the theme at hand!

With support from: Estrid Ericsons Stiftelse and

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Wire Works I, detail

The piece was made for the show Hide and Seek in Uppsala, February 2011.

How can room and object in combination be used to flip perspectives and illustrate the borders between accessibility and isolation, between inside and outside? In earlier works I have been commenting on the theme borders: mainly physical, political and geographical. In Hide and Seek I am approaching the same idea from a more personal but at the same time universal angle. The three pieces shown in this exhibition describe the borders of human fear of alienation and our urge to protect ourselves, both physically and psychologically.

With support from:

Wire Works II at NCECA, Tampa

Wire Works II / Cages

at NCECA Project Space: Migration

NCECA 2011 Annual Conference, Tampa Convention Center, Florida

March 30- April 1 2011

Further info at: http://nceca.net/static/projectspaceartists.php

With support from: Estrid Ericsons Stiftelse and

Fragile Skin (w. Anna E. Weiser)

In rush hour at the main metro station (T-Centralen) in Stockholm, 5 dancers carried eggs and thin leaves of porcelain on large plates. A different choreography emerged on the platform and in the trains, between dancers and passangers. It performed an awareness of relations between the hard materials – concrete, stone, iron – the stressful rhythm of people walking and waiting, and the brittle body of eggs and human beings. (Monica Sand)

Idea and performer: Anna E Weiser
Dancers: Hanna Bylund, Maria Värendh, Lotta Lundgren, Åsa Rudehill
Ceramics: Henny Linn Kjellberg
Film: Monica Sand

Den 25 november 2010 medverkade jag med en mängd sköra porslinsflarn till ett undersökande konstprojekt av Anna E Weiser, masterstudent vid Kungliga Musikhögskolans program Komposition-Intermedia. Fragile Skin var en del av projektet Mind the Gap, ett T-bane experiment iscensatt av konstnären och forskaren Monica Sand.

Om tunn hud/skal/yta i tät miljö

Annas utgångspunkt är vår sensibilitet sett ur ett rums- och resonansperspektiv och fokus är det i rummet vi inte hör men känner.

Vid 17-tiden är det rusningstrafik i Stockholms T-bana. Tempot är högt, det är trångt och ljudnivån nästan smärtsam. Om någon kommer bärandes på ett stort flak ägg, tunna porslinsflarn eller en skör avgjutning av någons bröstkorg. Kan vi aktas eller akta då? Hur nära eller långt bort ligger vår förmåga att ställa om från snabbt till långsamt, hårt till mjukt, pågående till stillastående? Är vi sensibla?

5 personer bar sköra ting och lika många personer observerade/dokumenterade. De klev på T-banan från Centralen klockan 17.00 torsdagen den 25 nov mot Fruängen/Norsborg, klev sedan av vid Slussen, i ett sicksack-mönster , på igen, av vid Hornstull, på igen, av vid Liljeholmen, på igen och tillbaka.

Som att sy med skör tråd fram och tillbaka genom tät väv.

De som medverkar specifikt i detta projekt är bl.a. dansarna Hanna Bylund, Maria Värendh och Åsa Rudehill. Avgjutning, Malin Sjöstrand.

Jag vill säga tack till Anna E. Weiser som bjöd in mig till projektet och till Anna och Anna och Hedvig som assisterade mig med porslinsflarnstillverkningen.

December 1, 2010
2010 - Fragile Skin (w. Anna E. Weiser) ARCHIVE | Interactive Art Performance & Stage | Comment

Umiak-Inuk

Umiak Inuk (Kayak Man in Inuktituk)

Objects/props of porcelain, shaped to represent simple everyday objects; a knife, a stone, a can. A performance with the musician/ storyteller Sarah Granskou about life in a small Inuit community on Canada’s east coast. Clown Hall, Toronto. With support from IASPIS/ The Swedish Arts Grants Committee and Estrid Ericsons Stiftelse. 2001.

October 12, 2008
2001 - Umiak Inuk ARCHIVE | Interactive Art Performance & Stage Sculpture & Installation | Comment

Princesses

Object/ performance/ photo. A golden crown. People passing in a shopping mall, young and old, dressing in the gown of the fairytale and commenting on their own relation to ”the princess”. Or the prince. A work about the relation between body and object and about status, images, fantasy and power. With support from Uppland Arts Council and the Culture Network, Uppsala. 2007.