I miss my morning runs. Running indoors is not at all the same, it does not do the same things as running outdoors does. Running indoors feels static even though I am moving – the air is still. I am not a fan of still air, all the time that I lived in Enköping there was always at least one window a little open – usually three, the bedroom and/or kitchen windows only being closed when it was particularly windy and the sound of things rattling kept me awake. Static rooms and static air make me feel static – as though the air is thick and lacking energy. This morning I will walk to the shop – it will not be the same as running but it will get me out of the building and into the fresh air. It has not snowed since last week but the temperatures have remained just below zero and I noticed while walking yesterday that there is now a layer of ice beneath the surface of snow. This is not something to be running on without studded running shoes.
With the presentation this evening I had imagined having free time over weekend and had thought that I would go to some museums, see more of the city, and go to the fabric shops. I had not expected that we would be making another overnight trip to the countryside and having another workshop. The museums I can visit on Sunday but I might not have the opportunity to get to the fabric shops. The idea of dashing in to town at some point today is not appealing … I want unhurried time if I am going to choose fabric and trimmings to take back to Sweden … so perhaps that will not be possible. Over the time here I have collected(?) … picked up(?) … odd materials: two pieces of burnt timber from the beach, some feathers from a walk, an unusually spherical stone, two pairs of mussel shells, and what I guess is a shattered screen from a monitor found on a run. There is also the paper packaging from bags of oats and bars of chocolate bearing foreign (exotic??) names and words that a I do not understand. There are some materials that I found around the building that I thought might be part of an installation but are not: three identical art nouveau inspired lampshades, a chromed plastic washing machine door trim and another piece of chromed plastic, possibly a handle, that Lidija found and gave me on the way back from a bar one evening, a pair of wooden fillials(?) and wall mounts from a curtain pole that I am now using with one of the flag pieces. What to do with these treasures? Certainly I can photograph them (individually and/or collectively) but to what purpose? Do I present them along with the flags and placards in the installation? Should they be arranged and shown elsewhere? Were they simply part of my process here … have they served their purpose? Do I see if they fit in my suitcase? Perhaps Sunday could be better spent playing with these materials …
