19.1.2024 Borgå

I’ve started my residency period in Porvoo (Borgå in Swedish) now in January. Little by little I’m diving deeper into the next work as all that which has been left undone last year starts to get done. Slowly new creativity is being born and new beginnings emerge. It feels good to be here. The weather is cold and the nights are clear.

My main goal for these two first months of 2024 here is to produce a new analog projector work for Porvoon valot/Borgå ljus – a light festival taking place in mid February. I will also work on my upcoming projects this summer and in the autumn. Times are what they are, I try to make the best of it.

I walk on to the ice
all this light that hits my eyes
should not be there

1.2.2024
Had a lovely meet the artist event with local people tonight over a dinner table. I presented the backstory and timeline of the In Visibilis project and the things that inspire this thinking and artistic process.
Good to eat, nice to talk. Thank you for coming.

10.2.2024
The light festival Porvoon Valot, started yesterday. What an intense week getting everything to work. I’m happy of how A Bright Future turned out. It’s the most massive analog projection work I’ve ever done, 8 projectors, each with 2 painted slides, front and back. It’s a sad and strong imagery of oil platforms, cityscapes, bombs, overfishing and pollution, but at the same time the vivid colours, almost naïve style and the bright light gives this sense of beauty and awe. The contrasts with playing children under the image of an oil platform is hard to miss, I love that interaction. What better time and place to talk about light pollution than at a light festival, when everyones minds are turned towards the light in the city.
Now it’s time for a little rest.

18.2.2024
I took a walk on the ice today. It has been raining and all the snow has turned to ice. It’s clear and beautiful. There are a lot of people ice fishing on the river. I wonder if they catch something, and what. The surface is covered in these boreholes after them. It’s like a minefield, but when spring comes they disappear.

20.2.2024
These last weeks of the residency are devoted to reading and just playing around. I need some time to think and ponder about all that’s coming. Here are two images of painted glass stacked on top of each other. There’s something here.