My mind is racing after visiting the three locations – train stations – where I have been asked to make temporary works this summer. Next Friday I have to submit an initial sketch/concept … I really wish that was all that I had to do in the coming week … unfortunately it is far from the only thing that I have to do!
When the project coordinator spoke with me about the project – ASK: arbetsfält för samtidskonst [translates roughly as places for working with contemporary art] – the idea was that I should make one work that could be presented (with minor adaptions) in the three locations. Having now visited them and seeing and hearing how different the particular stations are it is not immediately clear how one work – other than something very conceptual – could be installed in all three places.
The physical architectural environments are very distinct. The first is a two storey wooden building from the late 1800s, it is owned/run by an artist pair who also have a simple hotel/bed and breakfast on the first floor. The waiting room is managed (and furnished) by a national company and in contrast to the welcoming café and shop it could be any waiting room anywhere in Europe. The second is reminiscent of a 1990s shopping centre with a gym, cafe, and a large unit that has failed to attract a business – that vacant space is assigned to the project. The room is vast and high … the wall facing the indoor waiting area (it can’t be described as a room) is glazed and there are large windows on the external wall. The third building is hard for me to date. From the outside it looks like a goods store or siding. The station occupies slightly less than half of the building … the rest being a ’flea-market’ that opens two days a week during the summer. In what I presume is the former ticket office and newsagent is now a shop selling sustainable and up-cycled crafts – also open two days a week but not the same two days as the flea-market. There are three awkwardly placed display cabinets in the waiting room, it has been suggested that I use them.
Next week I will meet with the project coordinator – Hilda … who I know as she was my co-worker on Creative Saturday for a year or so, and we were both participants in an artist’s studio talks programme this time last year. It will be good to talk with her. She was clear from the beginning that there are limited resources and although the project is ambitious I should be realistic about the scale of work that can be achieved in the given circumstances – that is to say in terms of my time/fee as well as the technical/logistic support.
In a further shift … development … challenge … two of the locations want the project at the same time so that it coincides with their culture week – so that is another factor to take in to account and which rules out re-locating … re-configuring … one piece/work for the three sites.
The project is a collaboration between Konstfrämjandet Västmanland – an organisation that aims to make contemporary art accessible through a varied programme of projects, exhibitions, talks, workshops and the local councils. Yesterday I met the council workers from each of the districts: an arts officer, the head of the library, and a 50/50 arts officer/business development officer. Each of them was enthusiastic about the project and was keen for there to be a workshop or other participatory activity in conjunction with the installation/exhibition/event/intervention.
Today I shall spend the day thinking through … without prejudice … what I might do. Already some very material … practical … physical ideas are bubbling up, but I want to give myself time and space to consider more conceptual possibilities …
Driving between the stations my thoughts turned to Brief Encounter (2008) – the site specific … site informed … site sensitive … work that I made for Kunst Plattform Brusand. And even to M: meeting place (2019). How much do I want to take on of the train-station-ness of the sites? There is so much to consider … which is as exciting as it is challenging!
I think that it is time to go get the old chalk board that I saved from being thrown out in Enköping … on the way put the kettle on!
