about gammal

We have collaborated in various constellations for many years. Between 2000 – 2006 in the project love and devotion with artists Ingrid Eriksson and Karin Johnson. Our works touch upon different disciplines. However, the point of departure is that we are artists and nothing else. Our works often develop out of a specific situation or issue. When our interest is aroused, we are impregnated by meeting people, studies and journeys – experiences that help us move further into a more profound understanding of the situation. We do not hurry this process.

The recent neoliberal revolution in Sweden has made us reassess the financial and political situation that we are slowly engulfed by – both locally and globally. Our objects of inquiry are Swedish institutions and cities. Among other things, we have explored the urban space and its limitations for civic activities, which are regulated by law and by commercial interests. A research trip to Brazil inspired our interest in the urbanity we encountered there.

Lately we have developed a project that focuses on some ideas and impressions we have had for several years: shadows, urban invisibilities. The mind boggles when we think of how little we know, how blinded we have become. Focusing on the shadowy worlds has a tendency to provoke strong feelings – fear, aversion, displeasure and passive aggressiveness. “First you’ll close your eyes to the pictures. Then you’ll close your eyes to the memory. Then you’ll close your eyes to the facts. Then you’ll close your eyes to the entire context.” Nicht löschbares Feuer, Harun Farocki, 1969 [Inextinguishable Fire].

If you approach that which is repressed and disregarded, you risk being accused of sensationalism and speculation. We explore how we can use our visual and aesthetic experience in order to communicate this phenomenon. How to give prominence to other voices in a collaboration, in which the focus may be channeled in the opposite direction? Come to think of it, who creates the shadow?