Ministry Blog

Last week for the H2 exhibition in Eslöv (Stadsmuseet).

Yet a little flashback. Today from the fair town of Simrishamn. A war-exhibition from back when (we were at war with San Marino, for some reason…). War-elephants, Ladonian suicide-bombers and Presidential election. GUess who was there… Check out the faces in the crowd… Is that really…? Yes, it’s Gudrun!

Tomorrow, on Saturday a new thematic exhibition has it’s opening. It’s a joint venture together with Culture School of Eslöv at The Eslöv Town Museum. The exhibition is open 2/5-7/6. The exhibiton has been built intuitively and the theme is “Heaven and Hell”.

Much of the material in the exhibition are made by the young students at the Art classes. However was several objects added during the building and planning and the whole exhibition was created like one thematic installation. The exhibition was created by Bella J Tinghammar, Culture School of Eslöv, and Fredrik Axwik, Ministry of Art & Jump.

The week started out with a nice warm feeling of early summer and the kind of happiness that comes with a new exhibition-project. The building of a new exhibition, H2, has started. Tons of material has been shipped between here and there and the Museum in Eslöv. Pupils work and lots of different objects will be put together to a thematic exhibition. The theme is “Heaven & Hell”.

During the winter part 5 of the ARCHIVE project has started it’s preparation and at the moment the Minister is busy doing research-work in the old archives for a new exhibition. When it’s time for an account it is time for a thorough analysis of the historic records again. The ARCHIVE project has been the true story about the unknown past of Eslöv. The subtitle has also been “Eslöv By The Sea” from the times when the little town was a terrific summer resort.

The project was planned in 6 parts but so far there has been 3 different exhibitions (part 5 will be the 4th exhibition in the project). There has also been 3 different installations, 1 performance and 1 musical account and DVD-production so far. So far there has been at least 8 parts of the planned 6-part project.

An image from the first ARCHIVE-exhibition in the Eslöv Lighthouse.

IN the fall of 2007 there was a Biennale in Eslöv. While preparing the exhibition we received word that a meteroite had hit and a big crater was located! And the meteor was very close to hit Eslöv directly. The impact site was located south of Eslöv, close to one of the roads leading out of Eslöv towards Örtofta. The crater was excavated to try to find out if the meteor was intact and a big piece was found in the impact crater and was sent to the ESA in the Netherlands for examination and analyzed. The excavating was conducted by the expert Nils-Arne Nilsson who calculated the angle for the impact and much more.

The meteorite was witnessed only by a few eyewitnesses and left a hole of nearly 15 metres in the field near Eslöv. The meteorite itself was observed during it’s passage through the air over Eslöv by Mr. Maarten Vanden Eynde a belgian artist on a visit in Eslöv, who actually managed to capture the fire-ball in the sky with his camera.

Dig-leader Mr. Nils Arne Nilsson trying to conclude the angle of the impacting meteorite standing in the middle of the crater while the crater was excavated and examined.

The crater had a rim of soil that was thrown up around the crater. The soil was very soft on the location which made the crater rather small. One could expect bigger damage by such a high energy impact. No passers by was nearby at the time of impact or they could have been seriously injured and possibly killed by the energy of the impact.

The crater was 1 meters over the surrounding ground and the depth after impact was estimated to 6-8 meters before collapsing. There was visible traces of soil indicating that it, according to the dig team, was an impact with a possible easterly angle. The crater was clearly visible from the road leading into the south parts of Eslöv (Sallerupsvägen) and the crater was left open for almost 8 weeks before the experts was done with their surveys and the field had to plowed by the landowner for the winter.

The year that passed… Seen like this, in the rear-view mirror, there is a lot of things one already has forgotten about what happened during 2007. Surely it’s not like that for all the blog-readers with good memory, but for the Minister himself there was several feelings of déjà vu when the review was contrived. Here follows a brief and superficial overview of different projects that was carried out during the year of 2007.

February
The Salad Serenades (NeuroArt), Gothenburg. A stroke for freedom of choice and common sense. The hotel- and restaurant union in Gothenburg had put a one-man business in blockade for several months. The little Salad bar was national news since a whole block of union-connected firms and businesses and a city-office was affected. But the union didn’t listen to argument. Instead they muscled on with arrogant mafia-style arrogance and power struggle. The Minister of Art & Jump and the contributing musicians got a lot of verbal abuse from the ones that was annoyed by a support-concert for a Salad bar.  The concert had to be carried out with police-escort. In may there was a second performance of the “Salad-music” at a local party, and the audience was flabbergasted from the kind of music that could be done by sampling vegetables.

April

A temporary Ladonian Tourist bureau was set up – and at the same time a release party for a Ladonian Soundtrack, a CD/DVD with specially composed music inspired by  real events from the Ladonian history. The release party was held at Kulturhuset (Culture house) Dunkers Bar & Matsalar in Helsingborg with the restaurateur Björn as a host and adherent of mad art projects. The event enticed a lot of people and the premises was filled to the last stool when the National band of Ladonien had a premier presentation for their new album.

LIVE-set at the release party which also showed videos from the new album “Ladonian Incidents”.

June – July

A somewhat blurred action-snap with the jumper in mid-air. Image credit: Alternator Gallery of Contemporary Art, Kelowna.

HopArt in Canada: North American HopArt Tour – The planning had been going on for over a year in advance. In the last minute it looked as if the whole tour should have to be cancelled – but in the end it was still carried out without support from the Swedish Art Grants Committee. Instead it was made possible with support from several local and national Canadian culture institutions, as for example Open Space in Victoria, Alternator Gallery in Kelowna, 536 in Vancouver, Canada Council for the Arts (Conceil des Arts du Canada) and British Columbia Arts Council. The tour went to three cities in Canada’s western province (British Columbia). The tour consisted of performance (HopArt) and lecturing about the Ministers art and different art projects (for example there was a preview of a pre-production copy of the DVD “Eslöv By The Sea - Part 3”, which is a DVD with specially composed music for the project. The premier HopArt-jump on the North-American continent was conducted in Vancouver. After that jump was carried out in Okanagan Lake in Kelowna. And the final performance three weeks after the first was performed in Victoria’s famous “Inner Harbour”.

September, no - October, no November.
The Eslöv Biennale 2007 - Planning and preparations started early on in the fall of 2006. That the fundamental aspiration to surpass the former (Eslöv Biennale 2005) in quality and dissemination would have unexpected help was something we were happily unaware of during the basic work of preparation. A unique homepage for the Biennale was constructed, and will be online as a documentation of the event. The opening night was rescheduled several times and the starting date was moved ahead but finally, severely delayed, in November the inauguration took place. A big praise for all the participants for their understanding and flexibility!

A couple of weeks before the opening night, a bomb suddenly struck the hectic preparation work. The City of Eslöv, which happened to be one of the head sponsors, banned one of the invited artists (Lars Vilks) - who wasn’t allowed to participate. All of a sudden it looked as if the sluggish-to-start Biennale was going to be called off entirely, when several artists suddenly considered to bail out from the project. After a great deal of diplomatic work the Biennale was carried out with only one deserter (Ralph Lundsten). Nevertheless the Biennale got a completely different side-context and subheading than the carefully prepared theme: “Eslöv, Gothic and Space”. The turbulence around the Biennale was spreading fast in the press, as an example of the breakdown of democracy and a crime against freedom of speech, after local politicians made statements in the papers.

Virtual LIVE concert in Eslöv via Internet.

Even if some of the participating artists changed their contributions and instead commented on the City’s overstep and their interference in the Curators work, the Biennale was still carried out much in the fashion as it was conceived. Several exceptional example of contemporary art was represented. Amongst others a virtual concert via Second Life on the Internet, which probably was the first time ever in Sweden. All the fracas lead of course to that the Biennale got a whole lot more PR than expected. Several papers wrote about the Biennale, more than once, and even the heavier art critics reviewed the obscure Biennale in positive progressions.

Eslöv By The Sea - Part IV
The sixth part of so far four. A hexology in hitherto eight [planned] parts, as it looks right now. The officially forth part in the art project of virtual history had it’s premiere at The Eslöv Biennale, and took up yet another unknown aspect of the Eslöv history. Built up by collected and given objects a vast treasure of memento from domestic and foreign travels through the years by Eslöv residents. The souvenirs in the exhibitions was from both short and long trips. The Eslöv people was Globetrotters even before the phrase was coined.

Some of the collected artefacts of Eslöv By The Sea - Part 4.

NeuroArt – An unofficial international network consisting of different artists and musicians that was officially founded the year before but has expanded a good  deal during 2007 . It has also gotten shape and structure  with the increasing numbers of exciting members. Several thrilling NeuroArt-projects has been implemented during the passing year and there are several new projects in pipe-line.

Ladonia – Since several years [10 to be exact] the Minister is involved in the Micro nation Ladonia. During the first year of citizenship he felt that he wanted to participate in a more direct way to the country’s evolvement and applied for and was granted his Ministry (Ministry of Art) that later was expanded to Ministry of Art & Jump. At the end of the year (December 2007) the political situation in the Nation had reached such a state that the Minister of Art & Jump felt compelled to overthrow the sitting President and carried out a Coup d’état and appointed himself temporary President [until such a time when new elections can be carried out]. Several Ministers in the Cabinet supported the new President, a few raised issues against the unconstitutional acting (of course they are right, but it is in the nature of things). Thereby the Minister of Art & Jump is also the President of Ladonia – with the kind support of the Cabinet. As Vice President of Ladonia Kicki Hankell [former President] was appointed.
During the summer tour of western Canada (British Columbia) the Minister was also acting envoy and founded the new colonies (in Vancouver, in Kelowna and in Victoria) and also appointed Governors in the  three new colonies.

I Skånska Dagbladet kan man idag läsa om den berömda Eslövs Biennalen och hur mycket tidningen tror att den har kostat. Förutom att artikeln är mer spekulativ än välskriven så innehåller den flera grava fel. Det allvarligaste är kanske att en konstnär nämns som överhuvudtaget inte deltaget i Biennalen. Enligt tidningen skulle Ralph Lundsten utfört ett verk som varit omskrivet i flera tidningar, men så är alltså inte fallet.

Ministry of Art & Jump vill på det bestämdaste dementera dessa uppgifter. Ralph Lundsten var i och för sig inbjuden till Biennalen i Eslöv - och vi såg mycket fram emot världsartistens medverkan. Men den turbulens som uppstod när Lars Vilks blev stoppad från att deltaga gjorde att Ralph Lundsten valde att hoppa av Biennalen. Den kände musikern vägrade att delta under dylika förutsättningar.

För övrigt är de besökssiffror och summor som nämns i artikeln är även de felaktiga. Det var t.ex. uppskattade besökssiffror, från endast en del av besökarkategorierna, som angavs - men som alltså helt felaktigt verkar ge sken av att motsvara nån slags helhet. Olyckligtvis har också skribenten valt att dra stora växlar med de felaktiga siffrorna som grund. Som vi tidigare har berättat här är inga besökssiffror offentliggjorda eller helt summerade ännu. Ministeriet återkommer till det inom en snar framtid, och det har tidningens skribent idag på eftermiddagen också sagt att tidningen kommer att göra.

Den egentliga nyheten att den utsuddade rondellhunden som visades på Biennalen är till salu nämns dessutom bara i förbigående i tidningen ( i nätupplagan av artikeln finns de uppgifterna inte ens med). Teckningen av rondellhunden har resulterat i att Lars Vilks mordhotats av terroriststämplade religiösa extremistgrupper och fått ett pris på 150.000 dollar satt på sitt huvud. (Detta angavs som skäl till varför Vilks stoppades från att delta i Eslöv). Den serie av teckningar som teckningen ingår i har avvisats och censurerats av flera utställningar däribland av Moderna Museet i Stockholm. Inför försäljningen har Bukowskis kontaktats för värderingshjälp.

The Eslöv Biennale 2007 is now officially over. On thursday morning the demounting of the Biennale started and as always with exhibitions one can state that it doesn’t take very long to take down what took days to put up. It seems the ratio for a normal type of exhibiton is that 1,5 days of building, is torn down in about 1,5 hour.

We haven’t got any official numbers of visitors yet, not even an estimation, we have to get back on that subject. But there are still two things, one object and one site, that are still left to be seen after the Biennale at Medborgarhuset is over. Outside the front entrance, in the park in front of Medborgarhuset the “Eslöv Meteor” is still at display. At the moment we don’t know for sure it’s destiny. We have to get back to you on this matter as well. For now it’s on display and can we viewed outside.

The site that also is still left is the meteors crater outside Eslöv. Most likely the crater won’t be destroyed until December 10. The landowner has tried to save the spot as long as possible before the winters plowing must be carried out. The site has been thoroughly examined, measured, analyzed and photographed. And therefore it mustn’t be saved any further. But take the chance to see it with your own eyes before it’s gone.

The crater location (indicated by a red square on the map).

Driving directions from Eslöv: drive out of town via “Sallerup” and “Sallerupsvägen” towards “Örtofta”. At signs warning for a sharp turn is the crater located on the right side of the road going south bound. Driving directions from Highway 22 “E22″: From Lund drive north bound on highway E22 and turn off at the “Gårdstånga” intersection. Take a left turn through the roundabout, way “104″ towards “Kävlinge”. By the sugarplant at “Örtofta” there is a way to the right (sign: “Eslöv”). After about 700 meters there is a sharp turn (and warning signs indicating the sharp turn). On the left side of the road the crater is visible - driving north bound, towards Eslöv. There is a white information-sign - in Swedish and English, by a little turn-off on the road.

The 15 meter wide (and deep) crater from the impact of the Eslöv Meteorite, with the information sign. Look at the map above and follow the driving directions and you can see it for yourself before December 10.

Nu lider Eslövs Biennalen mot sitt slut. Idag är det tre dagar kvar. Dagens guidade tur var redan kl 09.00 och sista chansen för en guidad tur är på onsdag (28/11). Torsdagen den 29:e november rivs samlingsutställningen och så är Biennalen över för den här gången. De två kommande Biennalerna (2009 och 2011) är redan under planering.

Morgondagens seminarium på Sociologiska Institutionen har fått ändrad lokal, konferensrum 1, våning 3. Tiden är densamma som tidigare angivits: 10.15 - 12.00.

Välkomna!