JOURNALS

The work period leading up to the opening April 4th was intense. I sometimes think about how all these last efforts are so different from artist to artist. I, for one, continue working until the very last moment, and the objects I brought to the gallery were barely dry.

A big challenge this time around was my outdoor work, as this was an entirely new experience. I had an idea – the cocoon-like shapes of linen fibres were to be placed up in one of lime trees in the park at F 15, to gradually disappear with time and return to nature. Hence the title “Return”. But I was unsure as to how this could be done practically and technically. Getting the initial idea at the workshop is one thing. Executing it in the outside world is another. Discussions with F 15’s skilled technicians were relieving, their motto being: “Everything is possible”! The week before the opening, I went down to the gallery, where technician Eivind and I measured and cut and sewed together a large fishing net. Two days before the opening, technicians Eivind and Vetle helped me with a lift platform. After several hours working through sleet, drifting sea fog and strong winds, we were able to fill the net with the objects and also attach the shapes on the outside of the net. Many times we had to run across the field to catch cocoons set loose by the fierce winds. What a sight it must have been! Good thing we wrapped the installation with a tarpaulin, removing it just moments before the opening. To say that the weather gods were not on our side would be putting it mildly.

Eivind, Vetle and Gabriella installing "Return"

Kiyonori worked systematically in the room next to mine, when we were doing the indoor installations. I am impressed by how everything down to the smallest detail had been decided in advanced. And by all the work that has been laid down. When I think about the work process that lies behind this, it strikes me that it must border on boredom executing this endlessly repetitive and precise. But on second thought, perhaps the repetitive turns into the meditative? And perhaps this is precisely where some of the differences in our work practices lie? My own installation is so different. I have the objects, I have the room and I have an idea about how I want to solve it all. I can make piles of sketches at the workshop ahead of an installation. Still, something always turns out different. I imagined a wave shape meeting Kiyonori’s wave wall. I work in an organic way; I try and fail, until I find that something fits. Seeing Kiyonori’s structure arise was fascinating. The varying degrees of light that are let through depending on one’s location in the room. I am not sure what I expected from the result in our two rooms. But something works – the dark, matt objects against Kiyonori’s glossy, wavy nylon walls. The contrasts are obvious, though there is also a common key note. Though we all worked hard during the week of installation, we had a good time and, not least, it was nice to become better acquainted with our Japanese artist friends. The opening was a success, with many people attending. It was also great that the curators for both galleries in the UK were able to come, as this is the next stop for Cultex. I am happy that we have got to where we are today, though I still suffer a little from Cultex hangover, after all the work.