#spatial work

MASU + DOMA / December 2020

In the fall of 2019 we received a grant from Göteborgs Slödjförening to make a publication about our artistic practice. In June 2020 we commissioned design and curator group DOMA (Ida Sondell, Fanny Lindh and Sofia Florell) to take on our work from 2012 - June 2020 and for it to result in an exhibition (Göteborgs Kulturnatta 2020) at Gathenhielmska Huset and a publication.

We packed and collected all our projects, publications, objects, drawings, sculptures, recordings and images and handed them to DOMA for them to use, interpret, arrange and display however they wanted.

During the fall of 2020 they worked in secret with the material aiming for the exhibition in October.

Due to Covid the exhibition was cancelled and together we decided on a new date and format where they would set up the work and invite only MASU + two special guests for a two day viewing and discussion about what they had found in the material, what they see / don’t see in our work and what they highlight as our practice.

On November 28 MASU + DOMA presented this work and its winding process at a zoom OhiO Wednesday at HDK-Valand.

The two-day exhibition and conversation with DOMA + MASU and invited guests Henrik Sputnes, freelancing curator and Petra Johansson Artistic leader and head of Art Inside Out, Halland drifted in and out of our work, process and material as well as thoughts on what is an exhibition, what is a contemporary art practice and how we navigate the new spaces of artistic experience.

DOMA also presented the publication final draft which will be proofread and sent to print in the last weeks of 2020.

The possibility of working with DOMA for this project has given us valuable insight into our process and how to continue our work. We talked a lot about how MASU can create a space to focus for drawings and outdoor sculptural work and how to make relevant decisions on what projects to take on, be a part of or look for.

(Material) Site recordings #4 at the Gathenhielmska garden // 200609

This time the (Material) Site recordings project collects traces in the garden of the Gathenhielmska house. The movement of the material from one public space, to the forest and back to the city makes connections between the actual places, spatialities as well as the meeting with their inhabitants.

In a corner in the garden with a backdrop of both the Stigbergets square on one side, Gathenhielmska culture reserve on the other the sculpture moves like the wind in relation to the old house of Gathenhielska, its garden and the restaurant Oceanen´s outdoor table area.

The rolling height and the body of the material sets the area and creates a tranquil feeling as the sun passes the green treetops.

In the way around the room the winds capture the surrounding trees, but leaves the fern and the yellow flower tuft solitary. The paved hallway guides us and the eye towards the surface in the center of the whirling wind. Despite this, the place gives a feeling of wanting to sit still with a book or maybe a cup of coffee.

Livets väg - Vad är Ekologi? At Ystad Kloster  //  200606

We participate in the exhibition Livets väv – Vad är Ekologi? / The fabric of life – What is Ecology? at Ystad Kloster. The exhibition is a journey through cycles of life and nature with information, objects from collection and a pedagogical program. Three artists are included in the situation with different entries into the questions of Nature / Natural and the relation between human and ecology.

MASU presents two works that spawn out of our work with (Material) Site Recordnings, and in this work we have used parts of the wooden laths that have broken in the sculpture process. For the grand solid stone tanning table in the exhibition space we worked with the ends of the laths, dipping them in ivory ink and placed them like a clear cut on the table on an intuitive grid. The pieces are not glued to the table and will move in its pattern during the exhibition if knocked over, picked up and put back.

The Stools for not sitting are sculptural pieces made from the broken laths, with a seat in wool that suggests the idea of sitting.

The stools are arranged around the table as a possible place for conversation of what is taking place on the stone surface.