ttb.artline-southbaltic.eu
Telling the Baltic is a collaborative storytelling project involving Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art (Laznia CCA), Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH), Blekinge County Museum, Kaliningrad Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts (NCCA) and Nida Art Colony and Kunsthalle Rostock and Stena Ferry Line.
During the course of the three-year Art Line project, participating partners will gather a range of materials and “stories” from individuals who live within and who travel throughout the South Baltic region. The collected materials span many forms and types and will include traditional interviews, photo essays, digital stories, historical and archival media, as well as accidental encounters, ambient sounds, and abstract images, all gathered from sea-travelers, sea-dwellers, and from the sea itself. The stories we collect will form the raw materials and inspiration for artists from our partner countries who will render the stories into art works that will be exhibited in museums and galleries around the Baltic throughout 2012-2013. Both the story-telling and artistic development process will be enhanced through joint meetings, seminars, workshops, and other research practices that explore story-telling, interdisciplinary art production, and intercultural cooperation.
We believe the Baltic Sea has many stories to “tell,” and it can reveal its narrative(s) in countless outlets from which we may explore and share its rich surfaces, depths and all spaces in between. We will seek stories, then, from those who travel the sea for holiday or for work (ferry passengers, island dwellers, sailors, ship mechanics, dock workers, and galley staff, for example), but also from those who live by the Baltic’s international shores and from those whose lives are influenced by its beauty, mystery, hidden dangers and secrets.
Our goal is to collect an array of materials which reflect the many ways the sea can represent an inter-cultural and multi-cultural identity. Just as there is no one Baltic Sea, or one Baltic Sea-story, there is no singular way to represent the numerous ways in which the sea can influence those who encounter it. Therefore our international profile—with story collectors and researchers in Poland, Germany, Sweden, Lithuania, and Kaliningrad—will support our goal to promote multiple perspectives on the Baltic. Furthermore, engaging with the Art Line initiative to sustain creative networks among artists, theorists, cultural institutions and tourism will provide a solid foundation to explore how the sea both connects and divides us in differing and interdisciplinary contexts.
Our work within the Telling the Baltic project is based on a model for critical/creative practice, and we are committed to documenting our methods and supporting research in story-telling methods, interdisciplinary art practice, experimental exhibition, and intercultural collaboration and networking. Information about Telling the Baltic participants, selected stories, documentation of our collection and production methods, as well as a gallery to showcase the art works selected for the exhibitions will be displayed on the Telling the Baltic website. Additional information and related art works will also be available on Art Line’s Digital Art Platform, an arena for exploring art innovation in both physical and digital space.
Telling the Baltic Exhibition Schedule
Exhibition 1, June 2012 – August 2012:
Blekinge County Museum, Karlskrona, Sweden.
Exhibition 2, October 2012 – December 2012:
Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art- Laznia CCA, Gdansk, Poland.
Exhibition 3, February 2013:
Kaliningrad Branch of the National Centre for Contemporary Arts- NCCA, Kaliningrad, Russia.
Exhibition 4, April 2013 – May 2013:
Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock, Germany.
Exhibition 5, July 2013:
On board the Stena Line ferry.
BETA TEST PROJECT
IN YOUR HEAD (07 May - 04 September, 2011)
At the 7th of May Kalmar konstmuseum had their first so called Beta test, an experiment relating to art in the public space. The Berlin-based artist Gustav Hellberg was contacted by Kalmar konstmuseum which resulted in an outdoor installation in the city-park of Kalmar. Hellberg calls the installation In Your Head, and it highlights the hermeneutics of fear; how the fear of the unknown creates a destructive circle; creates even more fear which may, or rather possibly will lead to protectionism. But then, what is it we are afraid of? From where do our fears stem, and will us knowing from where it stems aid us in breaking the circle
of fear? (more info: http://artline-southbaltic.eu/event/kalmar-konstmuseum-beta-test-i/)
IKOF (17 September - 20 November, 2011)
San Donato Group and Kalmar konstmuseum sent a purchase request to the IKEA office in Switzerland asking permission to use the car for a public art project in the entrepreneur´s very own homeland, Sweden. Ingvar Kamprad personally replied and stated that even though he was glad to be asked he wanted to keep the car for himself. Instead an exact copy of the car was bought.
According to a long-established Russian tradition, IKEA offers free transfer for its visitors. Similarly, the project authors San Donato Group are going to provide the same shuttle service from Kalmar konstmuseum to IKEA and back, in Kamprad´s “private car”, thus drawing a metaphorical connection between the notions of consumption of culture and culture of consumption. Each passenger will also get one free museum ticket as a bonus.
On completion of the communication part of the project the car will be placed outside the museum. Inside it a film featuring interviews with the residents of Kalmar will be shown. (More info: http://artline-southbaltic.eu/event/ikof/)
UNISTIC LANDSCAPES & MACHINES
From 28 May - 18 September at Blekinge County Museum, Karlskrona Sweden, Unistic Landscape and Machines by Polish artists Julita Wójcik and Łukasz Skąpski were on show at Blekinge County Museum. (More info: http://artline-southbaltic.eu/event/unistic-landscape-machines/)
ART & SCIENCE SEMINAR IN GDANSK, POLAND (23 - 25 May)
From the 23d to 25th of May Art Line partner Laznia CCA was in charge of an international seminar entitled Towards the Third Culture, the Co-Existence of Art, Science and Technology which was held at Artus Court in Gdansk. During three days lecturers from Poland, Sweden, England, Germany, USA, Canada and France held lectures relating to the interstice between art and technology. In relation to the lectures, three exhibition-tours were given to the participants. (More info: http://artlinesouthbaltic.eu/event/updated-impressions-on-art-science-conference/)
ART & APPARATUS
The collaborative project entitled Art and Apparatus had its first workshop on the 14th of June, 2011, on board the Stena Line ferry (http://artline-southbaltic.eu/event/art-and-apparatus-i/), and its second workshop in Karlshamn and Ronneby, Sweden 17 - 21 October (http://artline-southbaltic.eu/event/art-and-apparatus-ii/). The third and last workshop within the project will be held in January 2012, in Ronneby and Karlshamn, Sweden, followed by an exhibition at Kulturcentrum Ronneby, Sweden on the 16th of June, 2012.
BALTIC SOUNDS GOOD
Curated by Art Line partner Art Centre Gallery EL and sound-artist Krzysztof Topolski a three-day workshop, Baltic Sounds Good, ending with an improvisational concert, was held 27 - 30 September, 2011. Participating sound-artists, six in all, travelled the Baltic, using hydro- and microphones to gather sounds from and under the Baltic. The concert, which was live-streamed from the Art Line website, was held at spacious Art Centre Gallery EL in Elblag, Poland. A CD and a DVD of the workshop and concert will be made. Information on when it will be available will be put on the Art Line website and the Art Line Facebook-page. (More info: http://artline-southbaltic.eu/event/baltic-sounds-good/)
MEDIA/ART/CULTURE/INNOVATION SEMINAR
The Media/Art/Culture/Innovation seminar on October 13, 2011 focused on the ways that mixed media spaces, exhibition contexts, narrative forms, and aesthetics influence and support emerging practices within digital media arts. In particular the seminar highlighted the influence of social media production on traditional art practice, emerging technologies (augmented/mixed reality) and new aesthetics, digital storytelling and the construction of ”place,” and interdisciplinary creative practice (art/science/technology/performance). Artists and theorists presented their research, demonstrated art works, and participated in discussions to explore innovation and creative expression in/through contemporary digital art and developing technologies. BTH Students within the Digital Culture and Communication and Literature, Culture, and Digital Media programs incorporated the seminar as part of their studies within digital culture. (http://artline-southbaltic.eu/event/updated-impressions-mediaartculture-and-innovation-seminar/)
SPACE MATTERS
During the evening of the 13th October, from 18:00 to 21:00, the city square of Karlskrona, Sweden, lit up. Curated by Oscar Guermouche Space Matters laid claim to the public space of central Karlskrona, Sweden. A number of Swedish and Russian artfilms were screened. At the facade of the Concert Hall of Karlskrona, just above the entrance, Swedish artist Nicola Bergström-Hansen and Valdemar Lindekrantz´s film entitled Excavation II was screened, followed by Thomas Broomé´s HellHunt 666 sekunder. Below the lit up facade of the Concert Hall stood Geska Helena Brecevic, showing visitors how to download and use Performing Picture´s smartphone-application Offspring Taking Off. In the city-library, across the square from the Concert Hall, art-books were showcased, and on a screen just inside the entrance looped a total of three Russian art-films. (More info: http://artline-southbaltic.eu/event/screening-art/)
LECTURE, BONFIRE OF THE VANITY PRESSES
Arranged by DKK within the Digital Art Platform Initiative, in cooperation with Art Line, a lecture entiteld Bonfire of the Vanity Presses were held at Blekinge Institute of Technology, Campus Gräsvik, during which Phd and poet David Prater discussed matters of writing practices, and read parts of his poetry. The lecture was held at the 16th of November and will soon be available to watch at the Art Line website. (http://artline-southbaltic.eu/event/bonfire-of-the-vanity-presses/).
Much more is about to happen within the project. Information about this will be put on the Art Line website, http://artline-southbaltic.eu). For more information, contact: Aje Björkman, aje.bjorkman@artline-southbaltic.eu
BIP