Ministry Blog

Flashback Friction - another angle of the jump in Uppsala, June 2010.

Flashback Friction - The jump in Uppsala, June 2010.

Foto: Skånska Dagbladet.
Gårdagens invigningshopp på Hållbarhetsveckan i Eslöv fanns med i Skånskan. Man kan läsa den lilla artikeln här.

Men oj, bara 20 i publiken? Det var nog lite snålt räknat av tidningen (eller så har dom skrivit fel - som vanligt). Fullt var det ju visserligen inte i A-hallen den kvällen, men jag skulle tippa på uppåt 60-70 i publiken. Hade en rätt bra utsikt över publiken från talar-stolen. Och när sedan vindkraftsdebatten satte igång lite senare på aftonen var det nog över 100 som samlats… (Bara för att sätta saker o ting i perspektiv).

Om man undrar över pappret som mannen i bakgrunden håller upp så var det en lista med grundläggande problem för ett Hållbart samhälle som Ministern listade på ett blädderblock under invigningstalet:
- Pencillinet
- Industrialismen
- Elström
- Sekulariseringen
- Vår stora hjärna
- Förstånd/ insikt (Vi är sluga, men inte lika smarta)
- Vår bekvämlighet
- Kvartalsrapporter

Återstår bara att lösa dom problemen, men utan att hamna på Medeltids-nivå igen helst kanske…

(English text will follow) Hittade av en slump en blogg-artikel om mig själv av en viss Dr Kurt. Namnet ingav både respekt och bävan. Dr Kurt stavade efternamnet lite snålt, med enkelt istället för dubbelt “v”. Den slumpmässigt funna artikeln kan läsas här.

The English text can be read below, the article above is in Swedish only.

Fredrik Axvik is the artist who has developed “HopArt”. Since 1998 Axwik
has been active as ”Eternal Minister of Art & Jump” in Ladonia, a fictitious
country founded by the artist Lars Vilks. The jump is a protest against the
order of things, and with each jump a list of grievances is read aloud. All
things high and low are included here, bureaucracy, self-effacement and
bad weather. By taking on the role of minister, Fredrik Axvik also challenges
himself. He is actually afraid of water and heights, but as minister he cannot
allow such things to stand in the way of his important task.

The minister is about to jump in to the harbour basin in his elegant suit. He
will jump from a pier hastily thrown together using discarded timber. One of
his hands is bandaged. He hurt himself in a previous jump. He hesitantly
tests the robustness of the pier. The construction is unsteady. Is this his
official hesitancy or is he truly testing the stability of the pier? He has apparently
forgotten to take off his hat, and his watch as well. He finally jumps.
The audience applauds.

The problems are solved for the time being. Behind the playful approach is
a genuine questioning of society, how it is administrated and how we people
are shaped by it. At the same time, it is perhaps the play and humour itself
that Axwik chooses to present as an alternative with his symbolic sacrifice.

For over a year, a vital document at the Ministry has been missing, presumed lost. But today it was found by chance! It is the list over the protests collected in Uppsala at the jump in Fyrisån. The list from Uppsala contains some very interesting attitudes, very specific protests, both from a local and global point of view.

THE UPPSALA PROTESTS

The long uphill stretch to the Castle in Uppsala
Expensive parkings
No parkings for people living in the city
People who doesn’t like Art
The new motorway (E4) is too close
Bad language handling
The bad summer weather
That the socialdemocratic politicians say they won’t build a new skate-rink
Bad environmental judgement (for ex. flying to vacation)
People who walk slowly in narrow passages
Topless (Roof-less) Bus-stops
Kids that are in the way in shops
Population
Royal Weddings
The aversion against Public Art
Reduction of SU for students
Cold toes
Parents deaths
Cold rain
Fizzy water
Trash in the river
Shaved armpits
Michael Bolton

The Uppsala HopArt Jump

At the HopArt-jump the HopArt Protest-list had a few additions at the Saturday Jump in Eslövs Trollsjön (=Gremlin Lake, or Lake Troll… go figure…).

Cowardliness
Fear (before others)
Cold weather
School
Green apples
Too loud music
When others get more
Blood in your eye
Saturdays (as workdays, otherwise it’s a fine day)
Sunday anxiety
Bad planning
Bird shit (and all other pollutions too)
Greenhouse effect (on global scale, global warming - it’s OK in greenhouses)
Paprika
Red wine (white is OK)
Spiders
Football (soccer)
Idiots
Bad reeds (for saxophones in particular)
Ping-pong
Bikes that fall over (when you ride it)
Liquor
Cigarettes (and all other tobacco)
Sorrow
Money
Problems
Darkness
Siblings (the testing type)
Porridge
Mondays
Cotton Candy in your hair
The dirt that sits in toilets
Life
Death
Time
Bad songs
Irritable parents
Delays
Loss of toilets (when you need one)
икони

A couple of years ago (well, it was in 2002 to be exact) a fierce HopArt jump was made one late evening in Octobers deep. In the Malmö channel the Minister performs his HopArt from a bridge and the regional media Kvällsposten was there to cover the event. It was all made in the context of the yearly local “Gallerinatten” (Gallery Night) where all galleries and art-institutions in Malmö are open all night. It’s an evening when everybody is out! The jump was made from the bridge closeby the Fire Department and I had called them in advance to have them as back-up. It was a high drop into cold waters. “Of course” they said. We’ll be there. Come jump-night the bridge was jam-packed with people, but no Fire Department and no rescue vessel… What is an artist to do? Postpone? I don’t think so. I trampled out on the rickety nailed together in a haste jump-tower as the crowd chanted “jump, jump, jump”. To make a long story short - I jumped. And here’s the pic from the paper the following day.

Image credit: Ministry of Art & Jump. Minister suspended in mid Malmoe-air under the Admirals Bridge. Note the tip of the jump-tower plank (to the right in the picture), also note the rose in the breast pocket. A little good-luck present from a lady in the audience. I needed that…