Just back from replacing both a lamp-holder and lamp in Go-Go. I had already replaced the lamp a couple of times thinking that it perhaps overheated, however having moved and re-positioned the lamp-holder and it still burning out a bulb in less than a week I can only think that there must be something wrong with the lamp-holder. The type of ‘low-tech’ technology that I occasionally use with usually works, unfortunately this is one of those exceptions to the rule.
It could be nice to re-produce Go-Go using professional lamps and motors … though it would loose its almost domestic qualities if I were to do that. Should I ever be invited to install it somewhere that provides sufficient budget then I shall certainly try it out! It would also be good to return to the original concept of solar power – which would require making an alternator … actually to fully realise the original concept would probably require a technical consultant!
Over the last month or so I have been considering adding a ‘proposals’ section to my website. At the moment my website is a record of the things that exist, be that an installation or an object. However much of what I think up, dream about, sketch, research, and propose has yet to be realised – and it is these things that I want to find space for. In my most optimistic moments I imagine that someone somewhere will be sufficiently intrigued by one (or more!) of these ideas and ask me to make it. I want my website to be more than documentation of what has been. I want to be, literally, fantastic – a place where I can showcase my fantasies and ambitions. I want it to be a place where visitors see what I am capable of imagining regardless of material and/or economic restriction.
Ambition and scale of ambition are two questions that have been playing on my mind recently. I have no shortage of ambition, but perhaps I do not understand scale of ambition. Or rather how to progress one’s practice ‘appropriately’. My mind has always raced ahead of my hands, perhaps one of my New Year’s resolutions could be to synchronise these two aspects of my work. As I sit here writing these words I wonder if having a ‘proper’ studio again might also be a component in this. Finding a studio is definitely on my New Year’s to do list (I am not sure that it could really be called a ‘resolution’).
In early December Klas and I went to look at the post office’s former building here in Enköping. The ground floor would make ideal studios, and there is plenty of room for an exhibition/project space as well as an education room and even a materials shop or commercial gallery. The basement, apart from what was the old cycle repair workshop, however is far from ideal with a maze of corridors furnished with curiously small windowless rooms and a surprising number of load-bearing walls. The basement not only makes the building too large for us but also far too expensive – especially as it is hard to see how we could rent out the subterranean spaces. It is very disappointing as the ground floor has so much going for it but unless a truly benevolent benefactor turns up we will have to strike that property of the list of potential studios. There are a few other possibilities and once the festive season is behind me I will get those of us who are interested in finding studios can get together to discuss some practicalities and of course how much we can afford.
Speaking of New Year’s resolutions, one that I want to commit to is making time to write something here every week. Lots has gone on since my post at the end of November and it is better to write about things as they happen rather than trying to refer to events and discussions past. One thing that I purposely did not write about at the time was seeing some of my handiwork at Lars Wallin’s Fashion Stories show at Artipelag. I decided, as my parents were visiting at Christmas, that I would surprise them by taking to them to the exhibition and letting them see the pieces before they read about it here. Lars Wallin designed the costumes for the musical Chicago at Stockholm City Theatre some of which I helped Tim produce, and quite a few of the outfits feature in the ‘theatrical’ part of the exhibition. I surprised myself at how proud and pleased I felt when I saw the pieces on show at the opening night, somehow seeing them in the context of a gallery made a greater impact on me than seeing them on the stage. And it was lovely to see how delighted and proud my parents were when they saw them too.
