Talking Practice at studio of Elin Magnusson and Sofia Hultin, "Syrran"
The idea of Studio Visits by Curating Art students came to me during the chat with Elin, so it seemed logical to start the project with visiting her. One couldn't imagine the place cozier and more welcoming than this studio behind a glowing window at Telefonplan, Stockholm. Elin introduced us to her colleague, Sofia Hultin, and the visit began: instead of planned hour we stayed (by mutual interest) there for 2,5 hours and could have stayed more.
The purpose of this project is a live face to face conversation between artists and students, and not the reproduction of the meeting on the blog. Though I try to transmit a feeling of how it was held.
The place where Elin and Sofin are based is called "Syrran" (sis, sisters), and it is open for feminists and transgender people.
Elin talked in particular about her work "Act of Instinct" where she, dressed in a costume of a deer, explored her body in a space of a nature animal area at her homeland. Through the animals (both handmade and real, out of flesh and blood) she talkes about freedom of choice, and specifically about "the order" of nature to have children. Humble, highly poetical video with a touching image of Elin dressed in a costume of a deer comes in contrast with a message of pressure and misunderstanding.
In her performance "Hatred" she changed the gender of comments about women written by men on the internet and in newspapers. These comments were left not only by angry teenagers, but by well-respected people working in media. Interesting, that male audience to whom Elin performed, took it personally, interrupted her saying they loved their mom and washed the dishes. Elin answered that this was not THEIR time to speak, but HERS. Example of comments:
Please stop embarrasing Sweden you disgusting monsters.
You are a fucking disease for the world.
I hate dudes with hairy armpits! I think it’s fucking disgusting that guys don’t shave.
In Sofia's work "I'm every lesbian" she constructs citywalks, maps and audioguides presenting this place lesbian history.
"Not only winners should write history" - said Sofia.
It is an ongoing project and Sofia has already travelled to Albania, Serbia and Belorussia to meet local LGTBQ. During the talk Sofia showed us an interview that was done in Albania: the male interviewer almost rapped the questions in Albanian, not letting an opportunity for interpreter to translate and for Sofia to even understand and answer the question.
In her projects "Goodbye Gävle!" she preformed outloud messaged reasons why people left the city named Gävle, for example " Because the neo nazis that used to hide suddenly dare to show themselves on the streets. Because Gävle has no self-esteem". The project was criticized by local newspapers, saying that she presented the city in a negative way; but for her this project was about belonging, longing for something else, moving on.
Interesting, that both Elin and Sofia's projects are often taken wrong, they arouse critique and anger, and in my opinion that shows that they make sense and provoke dialogue that we all so urgently need.
Apart from telling the stories of those who "have to" leave, Sofia tries to give them a hand: in the song "It Gets Better" she and her colleagues sing songs about love and support in costumes of animals, surrounded by pots with plants.
In her graduation project "Everyone Has to Shower" Sofia takes an approach of challenging norms that one has to follow during his school time. School pupils are constantly exposed (for example, they must take a common shower), and they are not allowed to question it. Sofia tried to give them this opportunity. She took a so-called obstacle course with them, but in a costume of a tod. The project continued with songs in a shower, pillow forts and a conversation between Sofie and pupils.
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