Hello and welcome to The Suitcase Project blog!

As the projects initiators, I, Liberty Paterson and my colleague Thor Nørmark-Larsen will use this blog to document The Suitcase Project and to keep you up-to-date with what's been going on and what’s about to happen. So keep coming back to share our successes and failures; listen to conversations with the artists and other contributors; see photos of the exhibition, the installation and the artists and their Suitcases in-transit and be the first to hear about our exciting line up of events.

Cardiff Report

Posted by: Liberty on Tuesday 20 November, 2007 at 22:57

I am back for one last time to tell you all about The Suitcase Project’s final realisation in Cardiff. As is the idea with this blog I will not gloss over the detail but give you a real account of the exhibition and its unfolding.

To provide a context I will start with a brief description of the host venue in Cardiff, The Old Library. Situated in the heart of Cardiff city centre The Old Library is a striking building which was originally opened in the 1860’s as Cardiff City Museum. In its more recent history is that it was converted into Cardiff’s Centre for Contemporary visual art in 1999, but after much controversy it closed its doors just 14 months after its opening.

The Old Library currently houses a mishmash of businesses and organisations including Cardiff’s visitor centre, the British Boxing Board of Control, a bar and restaurant, a gallery which hosts temporary exhibitions about the history of Cardiff and lots empty spaces, one of which The Suitcase Project took over!

It was great to get some contemporary art back into The Old Library. The Suitcase Project exhibition occupied a large space on the 1st Floor of the building (approximately 350sq meters, with a ceiling height of over 6 meters). A beautiful well-lit space with its own set of limitations; very little wall space with large windows on all of its three outer facing walls, a mezzanine floor which meant that there was no way stopping light crossing from one side of the room to the other and therefore no way of creating a darkened space for filmic works and 16 cumbersome and shoddy exhibition boards which were two large to fit though the exit and consequently could not be removed. As a Grade II listed building only cosmetic alterations to the space were allowed. Its true to say that every exhibition-maker is going to face constrains of some sort; space, budget, time, health and safely regulations, these are inevitable and The Suitcase Project had to face them all! I guess that’s were curatorial astuteness, creativeness and inspiration come in! It was a challenge, but also a real opportunity to work with such a space.

With only two days to prepare the space before the artists arrival swift and effective action was required. We successfully managed “to kill three birds with one stone” in one temporary build; blocking off the cumbersome boards (which cost just under £600 to move because of health and safety issues, I am still wincing!), providing a walk-in projection box to house Morten Dysgaard’s film “The presence of another door” and a wall for the four large-scale maps that constituted Jennie Savage’s “Documentary Series”. Constructed from ply shuttering (the kind of wood used to block off building sites) the build not only provided the perfect “low-aesthetic” backdrop for “Documentary Series”, but also provided the ideal home for “The presence of another door”, which in keeping with The Suitcase projects theme of travel and portability was designed to be evocative of a shipping container.

As always it was a relief when the artists arrived on Sunday 21 October according to schedule. The two day installation period was assisted by two technicians, a co-ordinator and eight fine art students who worked alongside the artists to install work.

Rather frustratingly I was not present for the full installation. I was dragged away to source materials, coordinate the transfer of money from funding organisations and sort out hotel bookings! These are all issues when the curators of a low-budget exhibition are not only curating an exhibition but are also responsible for organising all of the logistics involved including funding, press, travel etc.. I would be lying if I did not say that it was stressful at times.

Despite the limitations I have mentioned, a real benefit of producing a low-budget exhibition such as The Suitcase Project is that ultimately every decision made was taken by me and Thor. We had no pressure to comply with the external requirements that you could expect to encounter within an institution. Any differences in option were a discussion between two people rather than departments!

On Monday when we began installing our conversations with the artists where more practical than theoretical. Following the exhibition in Copenhagen we had a much better knowledge of their work and how artists worked. All the artworks were placed in consultation with the artists and as with the exhibition in Copenhagen there were discussions between groups of artists and volunteering students regarding the best placement for the works.

Robert Storr(American curator, academic, critic, and painter) likened the role of curator to that of a film director who works collaboratively with everyone else involved with the process of making a film, but always remains the one responsible for the final cut. I was reminded of this comparison when it came to the placing of one artwork which I knew to be unnecessary and consequently diluted the intended message of the exhibition. This was a perfect example of confusion between the role of artist and curator. One may ask is the artist always right? Or is the curator always right? I suspect neither is always right! From my experience the best exhibitions are those which have enable the artist to experiment and take considered risks. However, I would have to agree with Storr in his comparison between a film director and curator. If an artist signs a contract with a curator then they ultimately are signing an agreement of trust. The curator is ultimately responsible for the placing of artworks the effect this has overall feel and communication of an exhibition.

I expect you are sick of reading so I will entertain you photos from the exhibition and a brief overview of what each of the 10 artists showed in Cardiff:

Sixten Therkildsen showed “Reworked customs for you my friend”, a beautiful composed and humorous piece of work that was shown at Beaver Projects (please refer to Copenhagen report below this entry for more information). In Cardiff the work took its true manifestation with Sixten siting posters recommending new customs to the residents of Cardiff on bus stops, bulletin boards and telephone booths around the city centre.

Jennie Savage showed a retrospective of her work “Documentary Series” consisting of four maps created with audience participation in Quebec, Mexico, Denmark and Wales. The Wales map was “live” during the course of the Suitcase Project exhibition and involved over 40 people in its making. As at Beaver Projects, participants selected a mapped walk and five activity cards. Participants returned to the gallery with their various tasks completed and their experiences recorded on to post-it notes that they placed on a map of the area in the gallery. It was interesting to read the experiences recorded on the maps from Quebec, Mexico and Denmark. Jennie was particularly keen to show a retrospective of past maps as it allowed works created at different times and in different parts of the world to come together to form a whole documentary as well as signifying an end to a body of work.

Jennie also showed “Guide to Getting Lost”, the second part of a two piece work, resulting in two audio guides, one created in Cardiff and available on CD at Beaver Projects and the second created in Copenhagen and available on CD at The Old Library exhibition. The guide’s to getting lost were narrated by Jennie and are a continuation in to her exploration into how people discover a place or rediscover a place. (You can download the “Guide to Getting Lost” (part 1) from Jennie’s page on this website).

Torben Ribe showed “Places to go (The Holiday Paintings)”, a projection of still images that merge into one another. The same work was shown projected onto a canvas at Beaver Projects. At The Old Library it took a different format in its projection onto a stand-alone projection screen, the kind your parents or grandparents (depending on your age!) haul out from the back of a dusty cupboard to show you their old slides of holiday photos in Blackpool (I am not sure if there is a Danish equivalent!). Shown in this way the work took on an entirely different meaning which related more to its title “Places to go (The Holiday Paintings)”, rather than the painterly connotations it had when projected onto a canvas.

Violeta Mirada’s work consisted of a network of luminous wires which crossed to form a web-like architectural structure suspended in the entrance corridor to the gallery. Her work showed a spontaneous response to the exhibition space while referencing the work she showed at Beaver Projects, a luminous wire structure confined to the interior space of a suitcase. Here at The Old Library her work expanded away from the suitcase using an entire corridor as a confine.

Rebecca Gould showed “Tiny Dancer”, a luridly orange and yellow coloured banner draped down a wall and across the floor. As in the exhibition at Beaver Projects, a small monitor showing a small white dog looping dizzily around the screen was placed on top of the banner. In the historical and voluminous space of The Old Library the work became quite flag-like and regal.

Rabab Ghazoul work “But we need to be constant though” comprised of a recorded conversation between a group of people deciding on what song to sing, which could be listened to on headphones placed at either side of a flat screen monitor. The monitor showed video footage of people struggling to carry a rather large but light piece of board. I think William aged 14 best described it when he said the piece reminded him of combination of things including Monty Python, Goldie Lookin Chain (www.youknowsit.co.uk) and Chris Moyles' show (on BBC Radio 1) “because of the humorous arguing and irony that the whole discussion had been based around working out what song they were going to sing, and yet by the end they still had not managed to get a “note out edgeways””.

Linking the video footage to the audio required a certain amount of concentration from the viewer. The awkwardness of the people carrying the boards in the video footage could be linked to the compromise and struggle between the people deciding what song to sing.

The work Rabab presented at Beaver Projects “When I see you, you tell me you have changed”, delivered a serious and political message about the plight of farmers in Iraq, in comparison, “But we need to be constant though” was both light-hearted and witty. We were willing to enable her to show two entirely different pieces as it can be very easy to pigeon-hole an artist’s work and very difficult for an artist to publicly show work that does not necessary comply too people expectations.

Carwyn Evans piece was expansion on “Farewell” the work he presented at Beaver Projects. At The Old Library he showed 3 tree-like structures, one with a taxidermy cuckoo perched on its branch, one with a set of porcelain houses at its roots and another with four branches, each with a speaker housed within a cuckoo-clock like structure, as shown at Beaver Projects. Not only did Carwyn increase the quantity of structures from Copenhagen to Cardiff, but also increased the height. Elevated above the exhibition’s viewers the arrangement of the three structures was mnemonic of telegraph poles and was clever use of The Old Library’s lofty space.

Sean Edwards work “Untitled (Torben’s shoes)” consisted of a photo of Torben Ribe’s shoes taken at The Suitcase Projects opening at Beaver Projects, which was meticulously attached to the wall using layers of blood red tape. Sean was particularly interested in the exchange of materials and modes of transport between Copenhagen and Cardiff. At Beaver Projects Sean showed “Orange to fadeout”, a sculptural work created from layering masking tape which was specially made to replica the orange colour of school buses in Cardiff. His work at The Old Library used tape purchased in Copenhagen and his choice image of Torben’s shoes related to means of transport used in Copenhagen! Sean told me that the fact that Torben brought the same shoes to Cardiff with him made it even better!

Morten Dysgarrd presented “The presence of another door”, a 7 minute film about relations between eastern and western societies. Again this work was shown at Beaver Projects, on a portable DVD player. In order to provide a darkened space and encapsulate sound we built a walk in projection box which was designed to have a similar feel to a shipping container. Because of its beautiful imagery I had been looking forward to showing it as a projection at The Old Library and I must say it looked absolutely beautiful.

Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen presented her performance of “A Void” at the Opencase event on Thursday evening. The performance involved Lilibeth re-enacting snippets of performances by Piero Manzoni, Yves Klein, Marina Abramovic, Yoko Ono, Ana Mendieta, and others specifically ordered and delivered in a way that all the performances came together to form a new narrative. In keeping with the theme of The Suitcase Project performed “A Void” on a large of canvass that was left in the gallery as a trace of the performance. Following the closure of the exhibition this will be transported back to Denmark. It was a brilliant performance which involved all of the audience.

The “Opencase” event was a huge success with over 100 people attending. There was also a wide range of people present, from the visual art community in Wales, students and people of all ages, which was particularly pleasing.

We were very keen to create an event which encapsulated a feeling of celebration and enticed people to stay for the full two hours as opposed to having a quick glance around then disappearing into the night! We were also keen that Lilibeth performed at Opencase as a live performative element is so often missing from visual art openings unless it is specifically a performance art exhibition. Lilibeth’s performance was particularly successful as it involved audience participation, from the blue drinks served by her and her assistants at the beginning of the evening to her inviting the audience to buy an artists kiss! From the feedback I have received people felt that they were part of the event rather than purely a spectator. An initial concern was that “A Void” took over an hour to perform and giving one artist an hour of an event that showcased the work of 9 other artists could be seen as slightly unfair. However, it worked well on the opening evening with people wondering round the exhibition and returning to the performance at their own leisure.

After Livecase we all went on to O’Neill’s, not the classiest joint in Cardiff, but they kindly provided us with a bar and area. By that point I was feeling pretty exhausted and left reasonably early but from what I heard there were lots of you who lasted the night!

On Thursday Rebecca Gould and Sean Edwards were invited to speak to UWIC’s fine art students about working as an artist post graduation. We understood the importance of proving students with practical experience of installing an exhibition and how refreshing it can be to have conversations with artists who are not your fellow students or lectures. It was good to involve so many students in the projects implementation and wonderful to see so many present at the opening night and participating in Jennie Savages’s “Documentary Series”.

On the Friday following the Livecase event we all took a trip to Bristol, kindly arranged by Tessa Jackson (Curator and Artistic Director of Artes Mundi ...and my boss!). She arranged an agenda that involved visits to some of Bristol key visual art venues. The day started with a guided tour of Spike Island (www.spikeisland.org.uk) by its Director Lucy Byatt. Spike Island is a truly unique organisation, comprising of a gallery space, cafe and quite amazingly 70 affordable long let artist studios. Just around the corner from Spike we visited Picture This (www.picture-this.org.uk), a moving image agency that commissions contemporary visual art works, provides a residency programme and produces exhibitions and publications. We also had the pleasure of meeting artist Neville Gabie (www.nevillegabie.com), who currently has a three year residency on Bristol’s city centre development. His role is to observe and explore the construction process. He even has a porter cabin of his own! One of his projects involves site workers suggesting traditional recipes, some of which have been cooked and served to the workforce. What makes this project particularly interesting is that there are over 53 nationalities working on the development and resulting in a collection of recipes from all around the world. The recipes cooked will eventually form a cookbook, which we all thought was a brilliant idea.

We also managed a quick visit to Arnolfini (www.arnolfini.org.uk) a contemporary art centre in a converted warehouse on Bristol’s harbourside, which boasts a varied and ever changing programme of exhibitions, films, live art, dance and the finest art bookshop in the West! We finished the day at Station (www.stationbristol.org.uk) a tiny two roomed red brick building, which was a at one point was a former fireboat station and now its is an artist run building with an excellent reputation for allowing artists to work with the gallery over a period of time to create site-specific work. Its Director, Louise Short was the perfect host serving us a combination of West Country treats which included sherry, cider and cheese. It was a good end to a very interesting day, and a very tired bunch of artists stumbled back on to the train to Cardiff. Thanks to Uffe who had the difficult task of waking me when we got back to Cardiff, I could have slept forever, I think it's called curators fatigue!

On Saturday evening we went to see Monster Jam at the Millennium Stadium, Torben’s idea but we all obliged! An evening that consisted of very large loud trucks jumping over cars!

All in all it was a good week. It was great to work with all the artists again following the exhibition in Copenhagen and it was really interesting to see how their ideas had developed.

Press coverage was good with a-n magazine, Buzz and the Western Mail all covering the exhibition. The University radio station interview Thor and some of the artists and the project was fetured on Visiting Arts Website and newsletter, Re-title’s website, The Arts Council of Wales’ website, St David’s 2’s website, Cardiff Museum’s website, The Danish Cultural Institute’s website, The Danish Embassy’s website and Wales Arts International’s website. During the week of exhibition The Suitcase Project was voted the most popular exhibition by public vote on Artrabbit’s website (www.artrabbit.com), followed by Matthew Barney’s exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery and Andy Goldsworthy’s exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. I must say it was great to see an exhibition in Wales at the top of the list.

Looking back to over a year ago when me and Thor first started our conversations about The Suitcase Project I feel we have come a long way. It has not been easy at times but working with the ten participating artists and hearing feedback from the exhibitions visitors has made it all worth while.

The format of weeklong exhibitions proved to be a good platform of events, live performance and art that involved audience participation. In two weeks The Suitcase Project managed to fit the same amount of activity as some exhibitions have over three months. The “Livecase” event (Copenhagen) and “Opencase” (Cardiff) event were highlights of the programme. They were lively occasions with a celebratory feel, people enjoyed art, performance, music, a glass of wine and good conversation as well as participating in the making of artworks.

The Suitcase Project set out to: support emerging artists providing a context for their work and an opportunity to exhibit outside of their home country; provide artists, students and the general public with an opportunity to contribute and benefit from the project; create and generate a dialogue between different countries and create networking opportunities. The Suitcase Project managed to accomplish all these things and so with out further ado I would like to thank all the people who made The Suitcase Project. Please see the next few lines as a rolling film credits, in no particular order:

>Thank you to all the projects funders and supporters: the Arts Council of Wales, Wales Arts International, the Danish Arts Council, The British Council in Denmark, St David’s 2, the Danish Cultural Institute and Chapter. Thank you for making The Suitcase Project a reality. >A big thank you to the host venues Beaver Projects and The Old Library >Thank you to Becky Adams for designing a unique invitation for the Livecase and Opencase events, it was beautiful >Thank you Dan Clark of you help and support with the project >Thank you Malcolm Tucker for your help with the build at the The Old Library >Thank you to Kitchen King who hosted the Livecase party in their warehouse and provided the evenings catering. You were both extremely generous and open minded! >Thank you to Rachel who helped co-ordinate the Cardiff-leg of the exhibition, thank you for your time and staying calm when we weren’t! >Thanks to all of Lilibeth’s assistants: Kathryn, Billie, Helen and especially Neil you were all such pros! >A special thanks to Brid at The British Council for your enthusiasm for The Suitcase Project >Thank you to Gudrum Hasle for creating a flag for The Suitcase Project >Thank you to Lee and Kirsty for invidulating the exhibition in Cardiff >Thanks Ali for being a super volunteer >Thanks to Richard Robinson for giving your time >Thank you G39, especially Chris Brown for your support and sorting us out with a new projector at the very last minute. >Dean Woodford, thank your expertise, time and patience >Thank you to Carl Granger on advising me on the website and offering to help with the installation >Thanks to Nat Slow for spell checking all the press releases ... I hasten to add not the blog! >Thanks to my parents! Dad, thank you for your ingeniousness build of the projection box at The Old Library >Thank you Tessa Jackson for arranging a very interesting trip to Bristol for all the artists >Thanks to Holly Davey for your time and for being a great support in times of controversy! >Thanks to Ashley McAvoy at the National Museum for sorting us out with headphones >Thank you to Tessa and Alex White for your support at the very start of the project >Thank you to Tessa Hartog your enthusiasm >Thanks to Emma Geliot, ACW, who took the time to meet in the very early stages > Thanks to Peter Larsen, aka DJ Ukolele for providing the music at the Livecase event in Kitchen King’s warehouse >Thanks to Niels Jensen for taking the time to share your knowledge about allotments in Copenhagen >Thank you to Louise Markussen for translating all of Jennie’s activity cards into Danish >Thanks to Alex Hillman, it was a pleasure to meet you and thank you for your interest for the project >Thanks to Lisbeth Kystgarrd Olsen for providing free passes for all the Suitcase artists to visit Copenhagen Art Fair >Thanks to the people who emailed us with links to other interesting art projects involving suitcases, these included www.louiseclarke.com and www.travellingart.com

Gudrun Hasle creates a flag for the Suitcase Project

Posted by: Liberty on Wednesday 3 October, 2007 at 0945

The images above are of Gudrun Hasle’s flag especially created for The Suitcase Project at Beaver Projects. For more information on Gudrun visit her website at www.gudrunhasle.dk.

Copenhagen Report

Posted by: Liberty on Tuesday 2 October, 2007 at 1502

I am relived to say that the trip to Copenhagen got off to good start with no delays to flights and a reasonably straight forward journey which got us to Copenhagen for 11:35am. There was a slightly nervous wait for bags in Copenhagen airport and during which lots of discussions as to if we would show if all the bags were lost or alternatively take a week’s holiday!

On arrival in Copenhagen we travelled to the exhibition venue Beaver Projects an easy metro ride from the central station. At Beaver Projects we worked though each of the works requirements and made decisions on the best placement for each of the works. I and Thor had encouraged the artists to select works that were small in scale as we did not want the space to feel crowed or the works to appear crammed in. The artists had responded well to this request and most of the works were reasonably compact. The only side effect of this request and the small size of the exhibition venue was that many of the works were wall-based which could have easily given the exhibition a 2D feel. Were possible we brought away from the walls as we were keen to allow the viewer to interact and experience the works on their own terms despite the rather predictable route around the gallery.

It was good to see the artists discussing the display of each of the works as a group, which resulted in many of the artists presenting in a way that they would not have considered previous to their discussions.

I will briefly run over the works that the artists presented:

Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen performed her work ‘Artist’s Song’ at the Livecase Event on Wednesday 19 Oct. It went down fantastically with the audience. I am sure that many of the audience were artists themselves and could relate to the tongue-in-cheek lyrics – “I want to take part in art history too, but I can only do what I can do!”

Morten Dysgaard showed his film “Presence of another door”, which looked absolutely striking even on a tiny portable DVD Player. There was a lot of discussion around how the work should be shown – on the floor, mounted on a door, in a high position etc., the final discussion was to show it in the easiest viewing position possible – at eye level. This enabled the film to exist as the work itself, concentrating the viewer on its carefully crafted narrative as opposed to complicating the work by showing it as part of an installation. I am really looking forward to showing it as a projection in the Cardiff exhibition.

Sean Edward’s work “Orange to fadeout”, was sculpted from specially made to be Cardiff Bus orange masking tape - the colour of old Cardiff buses, a colour Sean has worked with previously. The work utilised the the frame of a window above the door to the gallery’s office and was meticulously installed/made in a manner that has become a signature characteristic of many of Sean’s works. The combination choosing to install in a normally ignored space and a reverence for his choice material of masking tape made this work something really special. The title “Orange to fadeout” was particularly appropriate, the curl of the tape around the frame of the window was reminiscent of tape coiling round the spool of a cassette and the orange masking tape had a sound of it’s own against the white walls of the gallery.

Carwyn Evans showed a wonderfully well thought out work called “Farewell”. Its assembly from Carwyn’s suitcase was a little like that of flat pack furniture! At the top of the main fold-out branch were 4 branches, each with a speaker housed within a cuckoo-clock like structure. The music playing from the speakers was an old Welsh folk song about a poet bidding farewell to his parents as he leaves home to travel to all four corners of the earth in order to source his creativity. The subject of Carwyn’s work is often torn between notions of “home” and a need to, like many artists, satisfy and an inquisitive nature through travel and exploration.

Rabab Ghazoul work, “When I see you, you tell me you have changed”, is a reaction to the plight of Iraqi farmers, who since the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq are now no longer legally allowed use seeds which they themselves have cultivated. These seeds have now been patented by US agri-business corporations and farmers are required to buy from them at extortionate prices.

I find that many artists dealing with serious and political issues often just present a situation that in basic says “look at this awful/terrible/shocking state of affairs”. Rabab’s work on the other hand is sophisticated in its approach of examining her personal reaction to a situation; the result of this is a multi-layered and substantial work. Her piece for The Suitcase Project relays a dialogue between herself and an allotment owner who has lent her a plot of land on his allotment. Her conversations with the allotment owner cover the farming issues in Iraq and her own relationship to her own loaned plot of land. Her choice to form her text in the profile of Iraq, an image that we have become very familiar with though images on the news was particularly interesting when it came to deinstalling the exhibition. Removing the letters, although perhaps not intended, had a very strong symbolic and performative element, the outline Iraq’s quite literally being scraped away until only a trace was left.

Rebecca Gould work ‘Tiny Dancer’ consisted of a luridly coloured banner of orange and yellow that draped down from the wall and across the floor. Placed on the banner was a small screen showing looped video footage of a small dog wearing a tutu like pink cuff around its neck. The dog, although moving at speed never gets anywhere, looping dizzily round and round on the screen. The overall effect of the colours and looped film gave a similar feeling to motion sickness. Rebecca told me that the work was of particular relevance to her as she had worked to simmer the work down to its core essentials, concentrating on the aesthetics of the piece rather than providing a narrative as many of her video works have done in the past. As the title may suggest the aesthetics of the piece where influence by Elton John’s very kitsch “Tiny Dancer” music video.

“Espacios Interiores” Violeta Mirada’s work consisted of a very average run-of-the-mill suitcase, which on close inspection reviled a small peep-hole through which a network of luminous wiring could be viewed. The real magic of the piece is that when you peer through the peep-hole into the interior space it gives the illusion of a much larger space. At first Violeta was planning on showing the suitcase on a plinth. However her decision to show the suitcase on the floor changed the way the that the suitcase was viewed, making more of a suitcase that the suitcase as an art object, this made the experience of viewing the inside far more surprising, a little like the wardrobe leading to Narnia, an ordinary object becoming something other.

Torben Ribe’s work “Places to go (The Holiday Paintings)”, a projection of still images that merge into one another was both beautiful and memorising. His choice to project on to a stretched canvas gave to strong references to painting and the idea of an ever changing still image, a 21st century painting.

Jennie Savage showed two works “Documentary of Copenhagen” and “Guide to Getting Lost”. “Documentary of Copenhagen” was a real success with over twenty people participating in its making. Most of the participants who selected 5 activity cards and a walk of 10mins, 20mins or 40mins really enjoyed the experience of exploring the area around Beaver Projects and to those that were familiar with the area it provided a rediscovery of sorts. The activity cards provided the participants with various tasks such as to interview a stranger on a particular topic, make a drawing or record an observation or a memory. It was interesting to see the varied responses recorded on post-it notes and placed on the large scale map in the gallery.

“Guide to Getting Lost”, an audio guided to getting lost in Copenhagen was also made available to visitors to the exhibition in CD format and is also downloadable from Jennie Savage’s page on this website.

Sixten Therkildsen’s piece “Reworked customs for you my friend’, consisted of a video piece housed within a suitcase. The video work showed various images sourced from Flicker, an online image sharing community, the narration accompanying the images told of various different customs from around the world. I caught myself laughing out loud to several of the clips. Alongside the suitcase (sourced from eBay) and video work Sixten showed several board with readapted customs for the people of Cardiff, these will placed as posters around Cardiff city centre during the exhibition at the Old Library (24-28 October).

All in all we (the artists, myself and Thor and Marie Director of Beaver Projects) were happy with the exhibition. There was a good range of works, both in terms of media and subject matter. Elements of humour, melancholy, political message and the conceptual to the aesthetically pleasing were all present in the exhibition.

Many thanks to the British Council in Denmark who supported the Livecase event on the 19 October. It was a brilliant success which attracted over 90 people during the course of the afternoon and evening. It provided a great showcase for the all the artworks, particularly Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen’s performance and gave people the opportunity to contribute to the making of Jennie Savage’s “Documentary of Copenhagen”.

Kitchen King, Scandinavia Cash and Carry Importers and Exporters (kitchenking@europe.com) who hosted the after party in their warehouse behind Beaver Projects did an absolutely sterling job. Many thanks to Adrian and particularly Ron who was a charming host, keeping the guests entertained all evening and ensuring that everyone had a drink in hand. We simply can’t thank you enough for your generosity and open mindedness! You are now officially patrons of contemporary art! And least, but certainly not last, thank you to Peter aka DJ Ukolele who provided the night’s music from his wonderfully portable decks. The music was good as for your smoke machine, well that just exceeded all of our expectations!

Apart from the exhibition we enjoyed some really lovely (and cheap) meals out together in the evening. We even got to see a few snippets of other art going on in and around Copenhagen. I took a visit to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (www.louisiana.dk) on the North Zealand coast. I must admit that I was not a massive fan of their current exhibitions; The Frontiers of Architecture I: Cecil Balmond and an exhibition of Richard Avedon Photographs. The architecture exhibition was well presented and was interesting in its investigation into architecture’s relationship with science and an ever advancing technological world. Perhaps I should have been impressed, but was just not in the mood to be! I did really enjoy one piece by Michael Elmgreen + Ingar Dragset, a diving board that which passes through a hole cut in the pane of one of the large windows overlooking the sea. I got quite excited by the idea that I could possibly jump out of the gallery into the sea below, but of course it was impractical, even without the glass pane in the way it would have taken an almightily run up to clear the rocks below and land in the sea! All this aside it was the perfect work of art for a place that prides itself on the interplay between art, architecture and landscape.

We also visited Copenhagen Art Fair (www.artcopenhagen.dk), as they very kindly provided tickets of all the Suitcase artists. Beaver Projects had a stand there and I bumped in to several people I had met while in Copenhagen including one of U-TURN’s Curators, Judith Schwarzbart (www.uturn-copenhagen.dk) who had kind kindly taken the time to come and see The Suitcase Project exhibition with Bríd Conneely, from the British Council.

Here are all the Wales artists hanging around in Amsterdam airport waiting for a connection flight to Cardiff. The image is a little fractured, but we were all a little tired by this point and it probably best sums up how we all felt.

And one last thanks to all 10 artists, you were fantastic and I look forward to doing all over again in Cardiff...

Nearly there

Posted by: Liberty on Monday 10 September, 2007 at 2359

It’s all happening! This time next week we will be in Copenhagen installing the exhibition. After so long of planning time seems to have suddenly sped up. We are feeling ready and the journey despite being stressful at times, particularly in regards to raising the funds, has been overall pleasurable and very rewarding. Meeting and working with the participating artists has been inspiring, along with the wonderful people we have met along the way. We have been overwhelmed by the support we have received. Press coverage in the UK is coming along well and a-n magazine (www.a-n.co.uk) and Buzz magazine are both doing news features in their October issues and Metro (www.metro.co.uk) will interview one of the artists the week of the exhibition in Cardiff. Okay it is not the Guardian yet, but to say there is just two of us co-ordination and organising the project we are doing fine. I have just come from a meeting with Carwyn Evans and he has just shown me images of the work he will show in Copenhagen...wow...nice one Carwyn! We now have a DJ for the party in Copenhagen, DJ Ukolele, who is also an artist and has apparently built his decks in to a bike! Should be fun and is unquestionably in keeping with The Suitcase Project’s theme of travel! I am looking forward to it. Artist, Becky Adams designed us an absolutely beautiful invitation to the celebratory events. Bríd Conneely, from the British Council has been a great support to the project and is bring curator Judith Schwarzbart to the exhibition with her which is good news. Copenhagen Art Fair is providing tickets to their vernissage and opening on Friday 21 September for all of the suitcase artists. Adrian from Kitchen King, Scandinavian Cash and Carry Importers is sourcing us with cheap beer from Germany for the celebratory event on 19 Sept! The artists are all happy and ready to go! There is only one thing left to say and that's "proof is in the pudding", lets hope we can pull off a good exhibition; we look forward to seeing you all there!

Guide to Getting Lost

Posted by: Liberty on Tuesday 4 September, 2007 at 1937

Click on the image below to download and listen to Jennie Savages ‘Guide to Getting Lost’. ‘Guide to Getting Lost' is narrated by Jennie, and is to be downloaded onto your choice of ‘walkman’ and listened to while taking a walk in Copenhagen. Jennie is interested in parallels between her journey, a walk around Cardiff and your journey, a walk around Copenhagen. It also provides an informative and a times quite personal guide to Cardiff’s city centre.

5 Questions for Becky Adams

Posted by: Liberty on Tuesday 4 September, 2007 at 0930

In keeping with The Suitcase Project's moto 'everything we do is art' we invited artist Becky Adams to design electronic invitations for The Suitcase Project's events. For all of you who want to hear more about Becky and her art we invited her to answer 5 questions...

LP: Firstly Becky, thank you for designing such a beautiful and unique invitation for The Suitcase Project's events in Copenhagen (Wed 19 Sept) and Cardiff (Thurs 25 Oct), lets kick off with my first question to you, why are you an artist Becky, and how did you first decide to be one?

BA: There is nothing else that I could be! Art is my life, love, obsession, sanctuary, support mechanism, reason... I am not aware of any conscious decision to become an artist. It is the only way of life and looking at life that I know.

LP: Can you tell us more about your work?

BA: My work is composed of surface design, textile and book art and culminates from an obsessive desire to write, collect and document experience. A sense of narrative thus pervades my work and the subject matter itself derives from selected fragments, excerpts and assembled details from a particular time and place. I am compelled by paper in that it is deemed a fragile medium, yet can document the transience of time. It can form an envelope as fragile as the human contact it protects, or a page in a book that holds the darkest secret. Such a transient medium can actually bare the weight of words. The realm of the book is intrinsic to my work in that it can offer a private space that invites recollection and contemplation. The book can also encourage a journey through time – from page to page or through the narrative of an unfolding story.

LP: What inspires your work and how do you keep motivated when things get tough in the studio?

BA: Obsessive sketchbook and diary keeping – the beauty of small things, fragments of conversations, bus tickets to random places, birds singing, the poetry of lost things, found objects, walking on the beach…Joseph Cornell, Ray Johnson, Cocteau Twins, the sea… I battle with loneliness and self doubt as I sometimes go for days on end in my studio without having seen anyone. Long walks, writing lists, writing streams of consciousness and haunting cafes with my sketch book often serve to alleviate a black day. Having a group show or deadline to work to also helps with motivation.

LP: What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

BA: Keep creating, creating, creating. Come around to mine for a cup of tea.

LP:and one last question, what do you do for fun?

BA: I’m in the mood for dancin’…

For more information on Becky visit www.suitcaseproject.com/beckymoth.html

Back from the land of Black Forest gateau

Posted by: Liberty on Wednesday 29 August, 2007 at 0900

I have just arrived back from Germany where I visited Documenta, Kassel (www.documenta12.de) and Skulptur Projekte 07 in Münster (www.skulptur-projekte.de). I saw lots of good art, lots of rubbish art and lots of nondiscript art. My head is swimming with art and my stomach with some of the most delicious cakes I have ever eaten! I could write an essay, but instead I will tell you about two specific pieces, one in Documenta and one at Skulptur Projekte, as they relate specifically to the works of two artists from The Suitcase Project, Torben Ribe and Rabab Ghazoul.

Starting off with Torben, I saw a piece called “Bread” in the Halle building at Documenta by Russian artist Anatoly Bode; a wall hung installation that consisted of 20 large slabs of wood carved to look like different sized and shaped pieces of bread. It reminded me of Torben’s work ‘Brown Polychromes’ which consists of large sculptures resembling bread. I am sure that both works have very different significances and that the 20 pieces of “bread” in Bode’s work is representational of 20 of something… Sometimes you see extremely strong parallels in artists’ works; however the meanings and artists intentions are very different. What I really like about Torben’s ‘Brown Polychromes’ and ‘Silver Square (+surplus)’ (a work that looks like a large piece of bread wrapped in silver foil and scattered with what looks like is salami, cucumber and onion) is the cleverness of the title in relation to the work. Maybe it is worth taking a closer look at the labels if it can alter ones perception of the work.

That brings me to Rabab’s work in relation to Jeremy Deller’s work at Skulptur Projekte 07. The link between these two artists’ works is allotments!

Rabab’s art is political, her own experience of looking after a patch on an allotment in Cardiff begun with her research into Iraqi farmers, who since the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq are now no longer legally allowed use seeds which they themselves – and their ancestors before them - have cultivated over countless generations. These seeds have now been patented by US agri-business corporations, through the foisting of new intellectual property laws, by the US Coalition Provisional Authority, onto the Iraqi legislature in 2004.

Rabab grew up in Iraq until the age of 10 and since moving to the UK has been unable to return because of the “unstable” situation in her home country. Rabab is not keen to be obvious in her interpretation of this situation in her work; rather she is more interested in the owning/possession of land and of the agricultural process of collecting and planting seeds. Rabab relates to situations that are happening at “home” and tries to connect to these situations and reason with them through her artwork.

In relation Rabab's research into allotments in Copenhagen we have made contact Niels Jensen’s author of a wonderful book called ‘Allotment Guide - Copenhagen & Surroundings’. The book is particullary charming as it documents not only the histrory of the gardens but shows a really keen interst in the owners and people involved with the allotments.

In Münster Jeremy Deller’s work ’Speak to the Earth and it will tell you’, consisted of little more than the allotments themselves, this is because it was the begining of a project which will result in a work for the next Skulptur Projekte due to happen in ten years time. There are something like 52 allotment associations in Münster, Deller has distributed a diary to each of these associations, asking their members to record activity over the next 10 years. You can also buy a Dove Tree seed for about 3 euros, which apparently takes 10 years to flower, supposedly reminding you that the Skulptur Projekte is on again. One thing is for sure, the allotment owners where very proud to have their gardens open to the hoards of international art tourists. It was the only thing in Skulptur Projekte that was easy to find as they had placed black boards and banners in the entrance to garden. I spent the rest of the time cycling in a very wobbly fashion (having never had a bike) 10 meters behind my boss, which was all good fun and unquestionably had some comical value, but became a little exhausting when so many of the artworks were not where they said they were on the map!

I thought Bruce Nauman’s work ‘Square Depression’, situated at the Center for Natural Sciences was brilliant and it was great to see the works from previous Skulptur Projektes. Highlights included Donald Judd’s ‘Ohne Titel’, Dan Graham’s ‘Octagon for Münster’, Rebecca Horn’s ’The Contrary Concert’ Jorge Pardo’s ’Pier’ and Rachel Whiteread’s ’Untiltled (Books)’. I left feeling envious of the residents of Münster being able to encounter such impressive artworks as the go about their everyday lives, I’m sure it must improve life quality!

Meeting Jennie...

Posted by: Liberty on Saturday 25 August, 2007 at 2200

Over the past couple of weeks The Suitcase Projects artists’ ideas are starting to form into actual works, which is really exciting to witness and be a part of. Despite our miniscule budget both I and Thor are working to make sure we can facilitate their proposed ideas. I had a very interesting meeting with Jennie Savage. She has been busily working on her “guide to getting lost” a peice of work that will provide visitors to the Copenhagen exhibition with an audio guide on how to get lost. The guide is based on an actual route in Cardiff. While in Copenhagen Jennie plans to make a similar work based on a route across Copenhagen, which will then be make part of the exhibition at The Old Library in Cardiff.

In Copenhagen Jennie will invite attendees to take part in ‘Documentary Series’, a game that will map Copenhagen from experiences encountered while performing a collection of tasks outlined by the artist. On coming into the gallery each participant will choose a walk (10, 20 or 40 mins), they will then select 5 activity cards. The activity cards provide the participants with various tasks such as to interview a stranger on a particular topic, make a drawing or record an observation or a memory. Participants will record their annotations on post-it notes, which on their return to the gallery they attach onto the map. It is the artist’s intention that as the day unfolds, the once factual lines of the map will be replaced by personal experiences and local knowledge.

Jennie will repeat ’Documentary Series’ in Cardiff showing the map alongside the map created in Copenhagen and previous maps created in Quebec and Mexico. The latter two maps are currently rolled up under her bed, so we are hoping that they will be in good enough condition to show!

A clearer Idea

Posted by: Thor on Wednesday 22 August, 2007 at 0900

The work keeps growing as the opening day gets closer. The artists’ ideas are evolving and we are forming a clearer idea about what The Suitcase Project is and will be. As you can see from Libby’s report from Denmark it was pretty hectic, lots of meetings which provided interesting insights in to very different and interesting artistic practices. The variety of issues the artists are dealing within their work and the mediums they are choosing to work with is diverse, ranging from chaotic outbursts of creativity, the subtle sharpness of political combined with the conceptual, poetic interpretations of space and powerful interpretations of recent art history. The mediums range from new-media-works – installations – film – performance and social processes. The Suitcase Project has it all!

In the days to come we will be concentrating on tasks such as sending out press-releases, booking accommodation, planning the events – which will include contributions from musicians, artists etc. We are particularly grateful to The British Council in Denmark who have generously agreed to support our “Livecase event”; a networking and participatory event which will provide an opportunity for members of the general public, students, artists and other arts professionals to come together. Its reasoning is in keeping with The Suitcase Project’s objectives to stimulate discussion, debate and networking opportunities. It will provide informal atmosphere where guests will meet and view the work of the ten exhibiting artists; participate in the making of an artwork; hear from the projects curators; experience live performance and music and enjoy a glass of wine. This will take place at Beaver Projects from 1400 – till late on 19 September. Make sure you don’t miss it!

All in all the Suitcase Project is on track and as the first exhibition in Copenhagen gets closer – the big puzzle is about to be put together.

Edinburgh Art Festival

Posted by: Liberty on Sunday 19 August, 2007 at 0800

I am going to start by taking you back in time! Organising and co-ordinating The Suitcase Project and its 10 artists, as well as holding down day jobs and trying to lead a reasonably normal lives has left little time for keeping this blog updated as we would like. So much has happened since my last entry!

After returning from Cardiff I travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland to visit The Edinburgh Art Festival (www.edinburghartfestival.org) which takes place across the city, bringing together galleries, museums, artist-run projects and studios across the city, as well as providing a decent programme of events and activities. It is organised in conjunction with Edinburgh’s other festivals and is now in its forth year.

If you are visiting Edinburgh Art Festival this summer I particularly recommend a visit to Alex Hartley’s exhibition at The Fruitmarket Gallery.I would describe the exhibition as “meaty”, as it brings together a substantial body of work. Firstly the exhibition beings on the outside of the gallery which Hartley has clad with an image of the gallery, along with marked routes where he has climbed the gallery building. That takes me series of photos exhibited inside the gallery, they are of Hartley climbing various buildings in Scotland. He also presented a series of photos called ‘Don’t want to be part of your world’, large photos of wildernesses which Hartley has cut in to and collaged to create superimposed fictional architectural structures. He also showed images of architectural buildings and spaces set behind frosted glass boxes, these where scattered around the gallery, there was one particularly clever one that reached the entire length of a gallery wall, at first I was unsure if it was another room as it provided such a strong illusion of depth. All four bodies of work were interlinked by Hartley’s investigation in architecture and nature and the way it affects the individual in both physical and physiological ways. Go and see it!

My boss at Artes Mundi (www.artesmundi.org) Tessa Jackson is the Chair of Edinburgh Art Festival and although I was there with my Artes Mundi hat on, never to miss an opportunity, I arranged a meeting with The Danish Cultural Institute in my lunch hour!

The Danish Cultural Institute (www.dancult.co.uk) initiates and supports cultural projects which promote either Danish culture in the UK or British culture in Denmark. Present in the meeting was Dorthe Foged the DCI’s Director Louise Markussen, Events Co-ordinator and two trainees; Luigi D'Ambrosio and Anne Kristine Petersen. It was a real pleasure to meet them. They where very supportive of the project and agreed to help out with translation of texts for the exhibition, share press lists and hopefully be present for the “Opencase event” at The Old Library on Thursday 25 October.

Reporting back on Copenhagen

Posted by: Liberty on Tuesday 14 August, 2007 at 2200

Wow, what a busy few days in Copenhagen. Here is a report on my visit, split into days to make it a little more digestible!

Day 1

My visit to Copenhagen did not get off to a good start. Unfortunately my flight from Cardiff was delayed as the result of the captain deciding to phone in sick 5 minutes before take off. Delays in Cardiff led to delays in caching my connection in Amsterdam. In the end I arrived in Copenhagen at 1930 rather than the planned 1135! This delay resulted in us missing our meeting with the British Council and Marie of Beaver Projects. Such a frustrating situation although slightly eased Alex, a fellow traveller also trying to navigate his way from Cardiff to Copenhagen. I should thank him for being good company and listening to me rant! While I am thanking people I should also thank Bríd from the British Council for being so understanding about the situation.

Day 2

Day 2 started with a studio visit to Torben. Firstly I should say that Torben has a brilliant studio space which he shares with around 10 other artists. A good light space with lots of creative and exciting goings on. I guess most curators work from offices rather than studios; I personally would prefer to work from studio space which is creative, lively and social in comparison to the dull mundane office. Anyway back to Torben who describes the work that he is making for The Suitcase Project as “beautiful and corny”. He is currently making the work, a projected film animation that combines photos of abstract constructions which will fade into one another. In keeping with most of his work the piece has very strong references to painting and will be projected on to a canvas. He described it as “temporary paintings constructed from physical materials, a collection of non-figurative, manipulated junk with the possibility of being classical beautiful.” He also said that the work is inspired by Lars Von Triers “Breaking the Waves”, and the movie’s painterly interlude scenes, designed by Danish artist Per Kirkeby. I can’t comment directly on this as I don’t know the film, however, Torben has a very good understanding of his subject matter and I can’t wait to see the work once it is complete.

Next we visited Lilibeth at her home/studio. Lilibeth is still in the planning for the exhibition at Beaver Projects in Copenhagen, however, at the Old Library in Cardiff she will be performing ‘A Void’. Anyone reading this in Copenhagen will have heard of this performance as it has become legendary in the area since Lilibeth’s performance of it at her solo show at the Kirkoff Gallery in March 2007. During the performance Lilibeth re-enacts snippets of performances by Piero Manzoni, Yves Klein, Marina Abramovic, Yoko Ono, Ana Mendieta, and others which are specifically ordered and delivered in a way so that all the performances come together to form a new narrative. ”A Void” investigates the identity of an artist and questions the authenticity of the art work and the history of art. Rather than perform on a stage, Lilibeth decided that in keeping with The Suitcase Project’s themes of portability she will perform “A Void” on a large roll paper that will be left in the gallery during the exhibition as a trace of the performance and then at the end of the week will be rolled up and be transported to Copenhagen.

Next we met with Sixten at central station as he lives in Århus, a 3 hour train journey away from Copenhagen. In both Copenhagen and Cardiff Sixten will be using an actual Suitcase in the display of his work. His proposal for work shown in Cardiff is to display notices around Cardiff city centre. On these notices he will suggest new customs for the inhabitants of Cardiff. These will be inspired by various other customs from around the world, which will be shown on a screen installed in a suitcase in the gallery space. The customs he will suggest to the residents of Cardiff will be altered and deconstructed to fit in with daily life in Cardiff.

There is a very strong connection between Jenny Savages work and Sixten’s, both artists are interested in personal mapping, routes, customs and local knowledge. It will be really interesting to see their work together in The Suitcase Project’s exhibitions.

Next we met with Morten. Previous to meeting with Morten I had only seen stills of his films, which I must say are beautiful and worked as narratives in their own right. Despite having a good “gut feeling” about his work I still felt apprehensive about seeing it. He showed us “Presence of another door”, the piece that he will show in the Suitcase Project exhibitions. Lasting approximately 6 minutes, “Presence of another door” tells the story of two men, one American and one Pakistani, living in what seems to be a motel room. Their roles and language interchange depending which one of them is in the room, although the fact that they seem unable able to see each other may suggest that they are one and the same person. “Presence of another door” is both complex and multi-layered in its meaning, I still feel like I need to see it another five times although I suspect this could result in more questions rather than answers. Morten takes an intellectual look at identity, displacement and transition, themes that form the basis of The Suitcase Project.

In the evening we managed attended a rescheduled meeting with Marie D of Beaver Projects. What a wonderful lady! Beaver Projects is located on the outskirts of Copenhagen in an industrial area. The gallery space is probably about average size for a private gallery that would normally host solo or two people shows, it is however small for 10 artists! Initially me and Thor saw the size of the gallery as a problem, the Old Library in Cardiff provides a large lofty space and there could not be more contrast in the layout and size of the exhibition spaces. However after meetings with the artists it seems that this has only stimulated more creativity. The artists have carefully thought about their works and how to adapt them for the two spaces. Some of the works have a collapsing element; others have will change in format, for instance it is likely that Morten will show his film projected into a box in Copenhagen, but as a projection in Cardiff; some of the artists from Wales are proposing to make new works in Copenhagen which will then be shown in Cardiff leg of the exhbition. The whole unpacking, opening up and closing away of artworks fits perfectly with the concept of suitcases and portability.

That’s what I really like about The Suitcase Project, so many things that first appeared as a restriction have developed into a quality and defining characteristic of the project.

Day 3

In the morning of day 3 we met with Violeta. Her work is very different to many of the artists showing as her primary focus is physicality of her work and the space it inhabits. Her work quite encroaches on the viewers space, literally forcing the him or her to navigate a pathway though the artwork. In Copenhagen she will show a luminous light installation within a suitcase which will require the viewer to bend down to look though a peep hole, then in Cardiff the work will unravel and expand from the suitcase swarming across gallery space.

In the afternoon I visited Kunsthallen Nikolaj, a church converted into a contemporary centre for art. They had two exhibitions one by Annette Merrild called “The Room Project”, which consisted of installation that housed images of middle class people’s living rooms from around the world and another exhibition that had invited 40 artists to design and make an arty tent. Neither set me alight so I won’t bore you with the details.

Day 5

I visited Statens Museum for Kunst (www.smk.dk) which was hosting a few really good contemporary exhibitions. One which particularly blew me away was a film installation by Ann Lislegaard. Her installation “Crystal World (after J. G. Ballard) consisted of a 2-channel 3D animation in black and white which was displayed on two huge leaning screens. It tells the story of a journey to an abandoned hotel situated in a slowly crystallising wilderness. Lislegaard uses the crystal as a metaphor to describe how the experience of the present and the physical surroundings are filtered through previous accumulation and breakdown of memories and experiences. It reminded me of Saskia Olde Wolbers films which journey through futuristic environments, shifting and mutilating in unsettling ways. Wolbers is different in the way she physically creates all of her film sets and narrates her stories using voice, whereas Lislegaard uses 3D animation and narrates her story using subtitles. However, both artists’ present hyper real worlds and that connect state of mind to physical environment. I am not going to write an essay but both artists are very good and if you would like to find out more I suggest these two links www.lislegaard.com and www.southlondongallery.org.

In haste...

Posted by: Liberty on Wednesday 1 August, 2007 at 1000

Only a quick note from me today as I must pack my bags for Copenhagen, my flight leaves at 0600 tomorrow morning. Me and Thor will spend the next four days meeting with the artists to discuss the finer details of the works they will be exhibiting in Copenhagen and Cardiff. This is absolutely essential as we only have an installation period of two days for each exhibition (we must be crazy!). We also have meetings booked with the British Council in Denmark and Marie Dufresne, Director of Beaver Projects (www.beaverprojects.com), The Suitcase Projects host venue in Copenhagen. I look forward to reporting back on my return...signing out...warm wishes...Liberty

This is take off!!!

Posted by: Thor on Wednesday 1 August, 2007 at 0900

This is take off! In the following weeks the last details of the project will be organised before part 1: the Copenhagen encounter at Beaver Projects. We are very proud to be able to present this high level of quality in an artistic exploration of the physical limits of art. All of the contributing artists have been extremely flexible in their way of dealing with the rather challenging settings of the project – to transport an artwork within the space of a suitcase – making a work that can be unfolded and packed together in a minimum of time - and present it in two countries. We have wanted to focus on the nomadic conditions of the contemporary artist, and everyone has accepted the task with courage and open minds.

I am looking forward to meeting with all of the contributing Danish artists, Marie from Beaver Projects and Libby in a couple of days in Copenhagen – I will be seeing the rest of you in Cardiff soon.