I wasn’t too happy yesterday. The Academy contacted me to ask for an environmental audit while I’m in Utopia. I have a ridiculous amount of things to do already. Do they realize I have to write every morning, do my Management By Wandering Around, be the visual sociologist, articulate the research data, organize the exhibition and wash my underwear?
I can understand their interest. The Christianites could make a penthouse out of a brown paper bag. The self-build projects prove necessity is the mother of invention. One couple have added a new area to their house every time they have a new baby. DIY is the practical outcome of the self-reliance ethos, and the Green Hall – an old military building – is a DIY paradise for recycled materials.
A lot of the facilities are communal – like washing machines, and a communal bathing house powered through solar panels with a sauna. There are community gardening groups and most produce sold here is organic or fairtrade. They aim to recycle 90% of materials. Cans aren’t sold in Christiania. You pay a deposit on all bottles and people who need a bit of extra cash collect any left around. There’s a free clothes stall where people take what they no longer need for others to find and put to good use.
Everyone rides the customised Christiania bikes – there are no vehicles allowed unless it’s for basic services. At night they don’t have street lighting so that you can see the stars. Luckily the crime rate is very low here. It’s green too, often uncultivated, with more birds and butterflies than I’ve seen for a long time. Nature makes room in Utopia for mosquitoes too. I got another six bites doing the environmental audit.
I have been trying to catch up with my reading. I brought Nicolas Bourriaud’s Postproduction with me, and reading it reminded me that Tirvanija has ‘lots of people’ as one of the ingredients in his gatherings. I may not have one in mine. I continue to look at the key leadership concepts. Quiet leadership interests me as I’ve worked a lot with surround sound. John Cage said there’s always noise – the real skill is in the quality of the listening. There’s a lot in quiet leadership that is about building trust and setting standards, and sometimes quietly bending the rules. My next artwork may be about sustaining a dignified silence.
Or not. The Academy aren’t paying me to do this. This is a labour of love and sometimes it feels unrequited. They could show more of an interest and be more supportive. It shows a lack of respect I think. What matters is that I deliver the goods. I am going to call in sick and go into Copenhagen. The Tivoli Gardens is the other place that Danish pleasure-seekers go to and tonight there is a firework show. I will eat fast food and live the high life.
