On the 19th of January partners of project Art Line from Sweden and Germany boarded the Stena Line Ferry in Karlskrona. Already on board was project leader Torun Ekstrand as well as participating partners from Poland, Russia and Lithuania who boarded the ferry in Gdynia, Poland.
Torun Ekstrand had prepared for a full day of information regarding the project. A conference room was set off for the approximately 40 participating partners, and after an initial press-conference in the lobby of the ferry this is where all partners gathered to start planning for the future of Art Line.
Ekstrand kicked off with general info about the project, it´s aim and goals, about which you can read more about in the section titled Art Line. Just before lunch, the project´s International Steering Group – consisting of representatives from each of the five participating countries – sat down for the first time to decide on issues concerning the projects budget, components, graphical profile and much more.
After lunch, partners divided into groups to discuss and plan for the storytelling-project, entitled Telling the Baltic, as well as projects carried out within Art and Apparatus, The Baltic Sounds Good, Competitions and much more.
The day ended with a series of lectures. The first of these were held by the Russian performer, artist and curator Dmitry Bulatov of Kaliningrad NCCA, in which the ontological complex of problems relating to the technological progress of postmodernity were highlighted. What does it mean to be a human being and how has modern technology (re)shaped the notion of humanity? In relation to this he showed slides from a project he during 2008 and forward curated that was entitled Evolution Haute Couture- Art and science in the post-biological age. To read more about this project click here.
Dmitry Bulatov was followed by Martin Schibli, art-critic and curator of Kalmar Konstmuseum. In relation to a series of slides he told all present about the Swiss artist-duo Com&Com, about how they were hired by the municipality of the Swiss city of Romanshorn to – via the production of an artifact for the city´s public space – market the city. What they came up with was a yellow figure named MocMoc with a horn sticking out from its forehead. Around this odd-looking creature they carefully weaved a story-web that gave rise to a heated public discourse. Some liked the odd-looking figure, some did not. An election about if to keep the figure or to purge it entirely was held. A majority of the voters wanted it still.
What the Swiss artist duo in essence gave the city of Romanshorn was a history, and even though fictional, a history that attracted tourists. For more information about project MocMoc click here.
Ending the threefold series of lectures was the Polish artist Mateus Pęk. More about this lecture and about Pęk can be found here.
When Pęk ended his lecture it was about time for the Polish, Russian and Lithuanian partners to get off the ferry which had reached Gdynia. The Swedish and German partners would stay overnight and get off when the ferry arrived at Karlskrona harbour. Art Line was one step closer in its aim to begin projecting contemporary art in and around the South Baltic region.
