SHOOL OF PHOTOGRAPHY SUMMER ACADEMY
This summer, the courses North/South and River Run at the School of Photography have focused on subjects paralleling the theme of Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art. Students have studied how art can relate to social politics and explored the city of Göteborg and its relationship to the Göta älv river. Alongside the courses, students have pursued their own artistic and theoretic work. In connection with the Biennial, they will be presenting individual or collective, distilled or expanded, works at Göteborgs Konsthall and Röda Sten Art Centre. There will also be an exhibition at Galleri Oro for the opening of Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art. The courses are run by Kerstin Hamilton and Johannes Samuelsson.
North/South
Informed by (modern and colonial) post-perspectives, we can now venture out into the field and say something about the world. Not the truth, but a proposition. This summer, ten students have presented hundreds, perhaps thousands of propositions, together with guest lecturers and artists.
During an exam last year, a philosopher from Stockholm said that slowness is political. The people in Falköping, however, are potentially uninterested in things moving more slowly. A young woman at an adult education institute in Göteborg educates peace agents. Someone says »a Brazilian diamond tiara« (why can’t the queen just hand it back?) and someone else talks about tacit racism. A film shown on a small monitor is harder to grasp. The concept of modernity is turned inside out – how do we learn to be civilised in the right way? Perhaps through courses in Swedish for immigrants, power shifts and striated countries. A (highly academic) market that will be phased out in December. Hacker activism. Naivism. Strategy: staring at a sofa until it becomes clear what should be done. Bazaar. Businesses move or go bust. North, south, east, west. People are creative, but in different ways. Is growing potatoes creative? Pirates and a safe machine that affects the brain with waves. Creative by necessity.
River Run
The city of Göteborg was founded in 1621 with Dutch money. Located on the estuary of the slow-running Göta älv river, the city was a strategic place for trade and commerce, making it possible to ship goods to Sweden without having to pass through Öresund, and to export Swedish goods to the rest of the world. This soon became Sweden’s largest port, and it remains so today. In the 19th century, Göteborg developed into a strong industrial city. Since the industrial crisis in the 1970s, the region around the river has experienced the emergence of a new identity, which is closely linked to global economic change. Industries have relocated their production units to low-income countries, and new structures have emerged on the labour market. Today, Göteborg is being launched as a city of Events and Learning. In many of these processes, the Göta älv river and the proximity to water plays a vital part.
River Run takes its starting point in this historiography. As part of the course, various participants, artists, researchers, businesses and institutions have been invited to talk on their approach to related themes and subjects.
EXHIBITION AR GALLERY ORO
10–18 september
The students present their works.
Karl Johansgatan 146
Open Tue, Thu-Sun 12–17, Wed 12–19
WEEK 41
11–16 October
Interventions by the students of North/South and River Run
The Lounge at Röda Sten Art Center
