GIVE ME FOUR MINUTES AND 10 AMPERES AND YOU WILL SEE THAT I WILL BECOME POPULAR
An art piece in public space has to deal with the overwhelming pressure of imagery, messages and traditions related to the specific spot where it will appear. Nils Claesson lectured over the necessity to be site specific and avoid the notion of "franchising" if not wanted. He used specific spots in Stockholm as example. Nils, who is an artist and filmmaker, works with video, media and public spaces. He is well known for his interactive installations "Tala med Ingmar" and "Say Voff".
Notes from Nils' presentation:
Try to be sitespecific:
- The white cube is nice, outside the white cube it is HELL- Rule 1: If you go outside the white cube, make a local analysis
- Rule 2: Respect the site and its local history
"Say Voff - The international dog sound interface"
- First placement: Humlegården, a park for mostly rich people and dogs and some crime- Second placement: Kulturhuset, this time young people and no dogs
- Did it work? Yes.
- It dit not work outside a bar named the Andalusian dog
- The box is made of 4mm steel
- The box was locked with a security function for tires from a gas station
- The box had open ventilation
- Air and water could run through
- It broke once: the battery froze one very cold night
- The machine rebooted every 24 hours
Think security
- secure your art piece- Do not risk your spectators life
- Electricity can be (very) dangerous
- Take advice from professionals
- Test it (nothing is more depressing than not working technoart)
"Talk to Ingmar about art"
Ingmar is an interactive telephone voice, which visitors can interact with by asking questions about politics and other stuff. Ingmar has been exhibited in different iterations, and people have been able to talk to Ingmar about money in an exhibition at Kulturhuset, about art at Liljewalchs Konsthall and about film at Filminstitutet in Stockholm.
"A greeting to a dead friend"
Nils ended by presenting an exhibition he just opened in a church which is a greeting to a dead friend. The piece deals with the border between the private and the public, and how the human being becomes visible in the absense and loss.
