Angående HUS nr 10 / Regarding House no.10

När jag lyfter blicken från arbetet i min ateljé och ser ut genom fönstret är det där, Hus nr 10. Mina tankar har studsat mot byggnadens fasad i 20 år, men upptäckte det alldeles nyss. Det blev utgångspunkten för det projekt som visas här.

Huset har en egen historia. Det var en av de byggnader som bildade ett epidemisjukhus, en verksamhet som inte finns där längre. Det går inte att förbise de öden och händelser, som utspelats här. Tragiken med sjukdom och död naturligtvis, men sjukhuset var också känt som en omtyckt arbetsplats.

Medicinhistoriska museet, en del av Sahlgrenska Universitetssjukhuset i Göteborg, var en källa mer för inspiration än information. Fascinerade var den utrustning med sina förpackningar, som läkare använde vi patientbesök. Lådor och etuier hade getts lika mycket omsorg, som utrustningen själv.

När jag sökte information om epidemier kom jag in i den färgstarka världen av bakterierna. De finns i många olika former, men har i princip ingen färg alls. De färgas dock för att bli mer synliga. Förvånande är att samma bakterie kan ha olika färg beroende från vilket forskningscenter i världen informationen kommer.

I detta smyckeprojekt ville jag, som form, endast arbeta med halssmycken. Här finns mer utrymme för rymd, volymer och vikt. Rörligheten som kan åstadkommas genom länkning av smyckets olika delar är spännande och ger möjlighet till flera beståndsdelar att interagera med varandra. Detta blev en väsentlig komponent i det slutliga verket. Det uppstod överraskningsmoment i övergången från ett avbildande till ett bärbart objekt, en oväntad transformation från en tolkning till en annan under själva handhavandet.  Detta ögonblick av förvåning är en tydligt medverkande faktor i alla verken.

Mona Wallström

Utställningsprogram

6.4 Vernissage kl 12 och invigning  kl 13 av Love Jönsson

27.4 Halvdagsseminarie, se vidare Changing Positions

Föreläsning av Iaspisstipendiaten Johanna Zellmer från Nya Zeeland, m.fl.
Visning av utställningar av Mona Wallström

27–28.4 Extra utställningar under två dagar i Garaget och Hus 8, se vidare

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Regarding House no. 10

When I raise my head from work in my studio and look out the window, there it is, House no.10. My thoughts have bounced off the façade of the house for 20 years but I discovered it just now. We have a single floor older house in yellow and red bricks with beautiful proportions and decoration. That is just the exterior. I have been in the house several times with its special light and acoustics. So many encounters; I have had both insights and disappointments there. This new discovery was the beginning of one of my longest projects with extensions not to be counted upon.

Starting up a project is often enjoyable, exciting, fearful as well as contemplative. Days of collecting information, planning and learning-to-know. My first step was visual information first. I made drawings of the façade and the trees around it that defined its place. I used a glade close by for an installation that at the same time became the starting point for other works.

The house has its own history. It was built around 1890 as a part of an Epidemic hospital. It is not possible to disregard the fates and stories that have taken place here. There was the tragedy of illness and death of course, but the hospital was also known as a rewarding place to work. These aspects regarded on their own opened many entrances for ideas.

A visit to the Medical History Museum, part of the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, did not give so much information but was inspiring and brought new sketches for the. The boxes and packages for equipment and tools were fascinating. They were often as well and nicely crafted as the pieces of equipment themselves. This shows how valuable these things were, as well as for the doctor, in order to show how serious and trustworthy he was to the patient.

While looking for information about epidemical diseases I discovered the coloured world of bacteria and viruses. Bacteria come in many shapes and are easy to make into images, while viruses hide and there are only constructed illustrations of them. Bacteria do not have colour of their own but become stained to be more visual. It is amazing that that the same bacteria can come in so many different colours depending on which research centre in the world the image comes from.

Now House no. 10 became the working name and the umbrella for different projects that were independent, but were kept together with its house through materials and memories. Stones and twigs were picked in the close environment, even from specific trees for the equipment box objects. The outline of the house broke the line of the trees, and works based on epidemics developed from the shape of the room used for diagnostics.

During a working process new ideas tend to pop up all the time. They can be ideas with irrelevant directions for my theme and hard to fit in to the general pattern of the project. Some of these ideas, whims and idiocies will appear as solitaires.

As ”Regarding House no 10” is an Art Jewellery project I decided early on that it would only be in the form of neckpieces. This form allows more opportunities to work with space, volume and weight. Movement is achieved by linking the parts of the jewellery together and gives an opportunity for the components to interact with each other and is important for the final piece. Some moments of surprise occurred through the transition from a drawing to a wearable object; an unexpected transformation from one interpretation to another during the making of the piece. This moment of amazement came to be a part of all the different projects.

Mona Wallström

Exhibition program

6.4 Opening, 12:00 and Opening Speech at 1:00 by Love Jönsson

27.4 Half Day Seminar, more info Changing Positions
Lecture by Johanna Zellmer (Iaspisstipendiat) from New Zealand, and other.
Exhibition Views by Mona Wallström

27–28.4 Extra Exhibition program in the Garaget and House 8, more info