Monday, January 26, 2009

What we think before it happens...

While brainstorming we thought that a collaboration between the two of us may lead to a discourse about:

American vs. Swedish
Male vs. Female
His vs. Hers
Art vs. Craft

Can you think of anything I forgot Fredrik?

The explanation

Fredrik Nielsen and Samantha Hookway are collaborating on a project and a process… yet, they have not physically worked on a piece in the same room. Instead, they have made a series of rules, and a switching of works, creating works independently but collaborating at the same time. This project is an examination of the ideas of what it means to collaborate, a process where we are de-constructing and constructing each other's work, redefining what is his, mine, or ours.

We will be documenting our communication via this blog. (especially since Samantha has since moved back to the US from Sweden).

Samantha is currently attending Graduate School at Tyler School of Arts, Philadelphia. More of her work can be found at www.samanthahookway.com.

Fredrik is currently a project student at Kungliga Konsthögskolan, Stockholm Sweden. More of his work can be found at www.myspace.com/fredriknielsen.

What has been done.

Here, is the beginning of the long project, and a viewing of Samantha's 1st half.

Images:














Ready for the remelt... Fredrik's glass apples and Black Vessel. Sorry Fredrik I do not have photos of them in one piece. I was too excited to make them mine!















Left: Fredhead 2/3 (Before Fredrik, pink and green). Right: Shaping an Ego (A Fredrik Remelt, black), 2008, kilncast glass,
9in x 7in x 5in

Shaping an Ego (A Fredrik Remelt), is a final piece in this collaboration. I remelted a glass blown vessel of his into a portrait of him. (I figured I better make something hard for him to destroy since I was aggressive in remelting his piece!).

We are patiently waiting to see what Fredrik does with the pink and green portrait. I wonder how he will claim it as his own with my signature on it. Or do I really exist in the process by doing a portrait of him? He could have commissioned me to make it and then it would have been his from the beginning... but he did not ask me to make a portrait of him.

















Ophelia
(Before Fredrik)
, 2008, kilncast glass
3.5in x 11in x 12in

This is the piece I have given to Fredrik to take as his own. There are particular reasons to make a portrait of myself posing as Ophelia.

Ophelia in Hamlet is only considered in reference to the male characters defining her. I needed a character that would represent me letting Fredrik re-define. She also has a morbidity to her... and since I broke his vessel and remelted it for the first round.... I assume her fate may be dreary.

Why did I use images of the two collaborators? I wanted to embody the art with our personalities. I wonder if having our personalities present in the work will make it easier or harder to work together or against each other.....