Stockholm, in the sun.

Just getting started

Today I visited a few places in Stockholm towards Alby. Here is a photo from that neighborhood. Lots and lots of blocks which were built in the 1950´s during the time when Swedish city planning was based on building neighborhoods that would keep its residences all in one place. They could, work, live and play all in one neighborhood. So in this neighborhood, you find a town center with plenty of shopping.

and then there was Greenland

Last week, I was in Greenland. In Nuuk. It was a strange mix of city and country on the water. Big city buildings, large apartment blocks, all mixed with rocky terrain, no grass, and old beautiful country homes. These photographs are from 2 of the blocks that are part of the large neighborhood of Soviet style run-down apartment buildings built to house all of the Greenlanders moving from the country to the city for jobs. One of the buildings alone has 5,000 people living in it. That is 10% of Greenland´s population!

Made it to Sweden

It has been a while since I posted anything. I have been taking Icelandic Class exams, working too much, going to too many family functions, but now I am back and I am in Sweden. I am in Stockholm for 10 days thanks to a Kultural Kontakt Mobility Grant. They sent me here to find new insiration for my work and to check out the art and gallery scene. So far I have almost seen every contemporary art gallery. I am going to check out a few more today.

In Stockholm, they have the opposite problem of Reykjavik in terms of housing. I have learned that they have a housing shortage, and any and all building is a good thing and not some need to satisfy the American Dream where everyone has a large single family luxury house. It has been a struggle for Stockholm to keep up with providing enough housing for everyone. I am still learning about this, so if anyone has any thoughts, send them my way.

I don´t have many photographs yet, but I would like to share this one of a miniature gold course which was built between 2 apartment buildings. Free miniature golf for all residents! Do they list that on the for rent or for sale advertisement?

So, I am here visiting strange neighborhoods and looking at how people live, seeing artists, meeting artists and trying to figure out what will inspire me. I am going to check out some neighborhoods where many immigrants live. I think that should be interesting. Like Breidholt in Iceland, the differences in place could be very sublte. We´ll see.

Send me your thoughts. I would love it.

My cat ate my Easter Egg

In Iceland there is a very different tradition for Easter than in America. Instead of Easter baskets filled with candy delivered by the magical Easter Bunny, your parents hide a large chocolate egg filled with candy. Every single kid gets an Easter Egg and they are all very similar. The only thing that matters is the size of your egg. And the sizes range from 1-10 I think. From what I understand it is important above the age of maybe 6 to have gotten at least a size 7. Otherwise, it is unclear if your parents love you! There is no deviation from this Chocolate Egg. Nobody makes their own and it doesn´t seem to matter which brand you buy. I did find a few candy shops that made a luxury brand, but I never heard anyone mention that they would rather have that brand. So, here is the egg given to me. You can see from the picture after what my cat thought of the egg.

Silver Eye Show Going Well

The show at Silver Eye just closed. I am so pleased to have gotten the opportunity to show there. You can see a picture of the installation, check it out. Thank you!

Upcoming Show in Pittsburgh

I will be featured in an upcoming show in a wonderful gallery in Pittsburgh called Silver Eye Center for Photography. The gallery is very active, has rotating shows for up and coming artists, and shows for the more established photographers. I was asked to participate in this show after applying for their annual grant. They offer a very generous grant of $4000 for one photographer each year. It is a great opportunity. The show will be opening on the 18th of March. You can see more information about the show here:

Click here to link to the information on the exhibition at Silver Eye

I will be showing works from my ongoing project in Iceland about the economic boom and the growth of the suburbs and the following economic collapse and the unfinished construction.

Review of Show at the Nordic House

See text below the picture of the article. Thank you Richard for a very thoughtful review.

Ipseity – Abeyance
A look through the lenses and into the crisis

March 2009

Words by Richard P. Foley
As part of the Northern Lights Festival, the Nordic House has been hosting the group exhibition “Ipseity- Abeyance”. The exhibition is one of the first artistic ventures to express the crisis. The exhibition’s curator and photographer, Julia Staples, chose to focus on photography, stating that the “illustrative qualities of photography go together well with representing the crisis.” One recurring theme throughout the show is the choice of portraying the real estate industry so as to reflect upon what has occurred from the economic crisis, as real estate is always a strong indicator of the financial situation in any country.

As I walked through the space and browsed the pamphlet provided, I noticed an article espousing photographer Guðmundur Ingólfsson’s feelings about photography. He told of how the art-form had received a lowered status throughout his career and the struggle for employment that photographers encounter.  It became apparent that the choice of photography was possibly the most appropriate for expressing the crisis. For me, the show truly engaged itself in demonstrating aspects of the situation with realism, subtlety and pathos. Hence, I wanted to try to articulate a few of the artist’s works that conveyed these feelings.

Guðmundur Ingólfsson

Upon entering the exhibition, the first artist’s work on view was that of the aforementioned Guðmundur Ingólfsson, a renowned photographer of Iceland. Ingólfsson presented was a contrast of two photographic series. Firstly, was a modern day reflection on the harbour area in Reykjavík, where a lot of ambitious building plans have been undertaken and sadly halted. The photographs depict large industrial cranes in the skyline, said to symbolise the economic landscape of the depression. The work remained bright and optimistic in its summer setting, compared to the second series “Stories From the Last War”. This older set of black and white imagery shows the demolition of old, unused buildings that existed in Reykjavík, such as the Pravda Club bar. Today, all buildings seem to hold question marks over their heads. As the title implies, these are “Stories From the Last War”, but we are already anticipating the next battle.

Nico Muhly

An American composer, who by chance became involved in the exhibition, was invited after his video collaboration with the DVD magazine, Rafskinna. The live performance was composed specifically for the incomplete city Music Hall. Muhly asked Helgi Hrafn Jónsson to perform on the trombone for its acoustical quality in testing a space—even though the roof was still missing, as he points out. The music seemed to produce an unnerving reiteration of the first verse, creating a stuttering tension that constantly began again and again, with short stints of other compositions but never building to a crescendo.  In this way it managed to convey something of the emotions of the building. Nico Muhly’s comment that this “might be the first and only performance” performed in the Music Hall made the moment even more sentimental.

Ingvar Högni Ragnarsson

A side room holds Ingivar Högni Ragnarsson’s photographic installation series “Waiting”. The emptiness of the work appears to be a stern realisation that all has been deserted in pursuit of better days.  The presence of people is suggested throughout each picture but never seen: car tracks in the snow, tyre marks on a vacant road. The curious aspect of the work is the concept of static time, a moment caught in anticipation. “Waiting” evokes the sense that something is about to happen or just has, reflecting the tense atmosphere of the crisis. The images are motionless, in wonder of what is to come: who will fill the empty car parks and occupy houses? What will happen if left un-built and docile? From an aesthetic viewpoint the photographer has captured a sense of the melancholic beauty of the Icelandic landscape, reflected in the dull greys and silence. His symmetrical angles in the work convey a dramatic impression on the viewer’s natural sense of composition, placing the work as one of the more technically ambitious.

Julia Staples

Photographer Julia Staples works directly with the issues imposed on people throughout the crisis. Two intriguing works produced for the exhibition are a smaller series, entitled “Breiðholt, Iceland” and “Looking Through An Unfinished House in Norðlingaholt”.  “Breiðholt, Iceland” depicts the housing blocks of Breidholt – which legend has it is a notoriously deprived part of Reykjavík with a high concentration of immigrants.

What struck me regarding this series were its vibrant colours, instinctively drawing me to view them. Inspecting the images further, I noticed they were small entrance doors to a housing block, placed in numerical order. The systematic order seemed to express ideas of populace statistics and the categorization of people into a number; in this context, it almost appeared like a list of unemployed families receiving benefits in each apartment. I began to wonder what the impact of the crisis would have here. Would the people of Breiðholt be the first to experience the repercussions of the economic change? If most immigrants emigrate home, will these apartments become barren or be over filled because the housing crash? Just how bad could it get? All these questions posed by the work were inevitably unanswerable. “Looking Through An unfinished House in Norðlingaholt” seems to portray more hope. The images were printed so that the frame mimicked the windows of the house. Most of the window views were set onto a picturesque landscape, contrasting the pathos between the tragic financial restrictions preventing a family for living there, and the hope that one day they will enjoy these views when the economic crisis will be over.

On the most part the exhibition was a conflict between anxiety and optimistic aspirations both connecting to the current atmosphere of the crisis, which makes the work a successful re-enactment of what has been felt throughout this historical period.

All is calm–until next week

I just gave a lecture at the Nordic House on photography and musicians. It was my first lecture to musicians. I am usually photographing them, not telling them how to run their lives. It made me think a lot about how valuable and powerful images are. I especially enjoyed thinking about how KISS has created a name and an image for themselves. I doubt they feel comfortable going out in public without their crazy comic character make-up. Whether you are an artist, a plastic surgeon, a musician, a scientist or a baker, your presentation is everything. The better your presentation, and the more consistently you deliver your presentation, the better people are going to know you, what you do, and what you represent.

In other news:

1. I just submitted a grant report to travel to Estonia which would be amazing. Estonia seems like it is beautiful, and I never hear about people´s trips to Estonia like I do Italy

2. I have to start my first novel in Icelandic. It is really long, and I am really scared to even look at the first page

3. The Nordic House show closes on the 8th of March, but don´t despair, you can travel to Pittsburgh to catch my work at the museum called Silver Eye Center for photography. The show opens on the 18th of March and it would be great if you are able to get out and make it.

4. Next week are some more grant applications due and I have exams at the end of April for Icelandic, and I am trying to write a proposal for a book. I am super happy to be so busy for such great reasons, but also totally overwhelmed, mostly about the Icelandic novel!

5. Did mention that Iceland has a new Prime Minister. A woman no less, and a lesbian even more.

Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, here is her picture:

Malin Stahl performs at the Nordic House

I Always Wanted to Wear White

-Let’s meet for a drink and a smoke, the White Canary analyzes the situation

Nordic House, Friday 27th of February 7-11pm. Performance at 7:30.

Come hear Malin talk about the art at the Nordic House and listen to her give some advice on how to run the government. Malin Stahl is a friend who I met the first time I came to Iceland in 2003. She did her undergraduate art studies at the art school of Reykjavik. She later went to London to do her MFA. Now she does art and performance all over Europe. She will be gracing us with her presence on Friday the 27th at 7:30. Come to the Nordic House to see her in action.

Here is what Malin says about her work:

My practice embraces a cross-disciplinary approach which includes

performance, writing, drawing, photography and most predominantly video

installation. In subject-matter I engage in womanhood and gender

examinations as well as the visual expression and structures of theatrical

performance. Adding disparate elements together when creating feminine and

cross-gender personas constitutes attempts at finding system in a chaotic

disorder of references, relationships and media.