The whole process with Wayfahrer, up until now, includes a broad variety of artefacts: writings, poems, objects, photos and videos during a time period of almost ten years, between 1999 and 2009. And as it feels now, it will be a continuation beyond what we see here. It has been a continuous work over time, with several produced artefacts or debris of a process which I preferes to call it.
WAYFAHRER GOES SUISSE (2009)
Combined with a workshop at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Switzerland, the Wayfahrer made several separate appearances, at different sites. The idea was to "place" the Wayfahrer character in different settings to see what would happen. Some of the collected material has been developed further for the understanding of the surrounding and the specific sounds at site.
WAYFAHRER SUISSE Pt. I
(video soon)
Wayfahrer is listening to the landscape from a cable car.
WAYFAHRER SUISSE Pt. II
A selection of photos collected from several appearances, from the sceneries and landscape surrounding Wayfahrer.
WAYFAHRER SUISSE Pt. III
Video of the Wayfahrer walking on top of a mountain. /SOON/
WAYFAHRER SUISSE Pt. IV
/SOON/
Video of the Wayfahrer walking across valleys deep in the mountains of Switzerland.
WAYFAHRER : AIRSTRIP (2009)
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WAYFAHRER : AIRSTRIP (May 2009)
WAYFAHRER: THE FICTIVE EXHIBITION TOUR (2008)
Internet poster announcing the up coming project. First published in february 2008.
Some of those performances took place at sites around the world. They were documented, in video and photos. None of them had an audience other than the nature, in which they took place. That was the intention. Having no audience, in contradiction to traditional performance striving for contact with the audience, but in line with some works of other artists (e.g. Joan Jonas, Vulcano Saga), was my idea. Another idea was to make the performances at odd places, using my ordinary life, and presenting the material as a kind of exhibition - to none. It became a fictive exhibition tour: at real sites, at real spots, making real performances - but telling no one, and therefore having no audience. The tour was, however, announced on the Internet, well in advance.
WAYFAHRER WOODS (July 2008)
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WAYFAHRER : MICRO - MOVIE - SCRIPTS (mainly 2007 but also into 2008)
Ideas to the work with the performance project wayfahrer, was bourn through the work with micro-scripts or poems, written mostly in 2007 but continiously edited into 2008 (and still is under editing and developing). The initial idea with the very short texts that emerged during the summer of 2007, some one hundred of them, was to assemble them in a book and publish them as poems. Many of the poems had a "creature" in the writing called "him" even though "me" appears in the same text. The odd thing was that "he" is not another man; it is just another "me", appearing alongside with "me". In a way, those two "me" in the same text, have different characters' and agendas, not completely but slightly sliding a part. In many of those poems, "he" is walking, on the edge, on a thin line, between something, but always somewhat straight ahead. Below, a few of them are translated into english.
FACET No. 6
his face is not yet shade in shade
the interest lies in the wanting
passages into loss
lack of loss
full ink cartridges
contrasts and
distinct lines
all packages arrive
in clarit
between us
a migraine of silence
and in the midst of the absurdity of nuance
I am utterly detached
the ghost of loss
leaves no traces
I fight the realisation
FACET No. 9
perfect movement
our spheres in one nano pipe each
he in mine
but
not mine in his
always
we meet up on the texture surface
we run
along each other
each in his track
through broad-gauge
woods of manchester
cloth
I desire what s tall and thin
sharpness
the great heights
and
a lack of feet
FACET No. 11
unnoticed centre
the yellow signal stripes of the wasp
he sits there so annoying
evident
exclusive
confident
and confidential
without doubt
I am one-legged ambivalent
experienced juggling balls are in the air
soon falling to the ground
frozen by perspectives
vicious circle or idling speed
your choice
oh no he is not self-satisfied
or stuck-up
just naively clear
slender-limbed and armed
who needs to choose?
FACET No. 13
the distance is great
but
I am sneaking
with my eyes
the treat is on him
just like before
but inversely
we are
connected by
diaphragmic tear ducts
FACET No. 16
misty back
cut lips
I backwards
he forwards
one seam allowance between
he sees himself
when I sew stretched pieces of cloth together
I see both
an indefinite body
he thinks he knows
I know I don t
the tacking thread is too short
Empty Copies (2005 - 2006)
If, "Follow Me" (See below), nurtured a performative person, the thread was not followed by more works in the same direction, at that time. Many other things passed on, during the years instead. However, this performative person showed up again in 2005. This time, the person was "absent" but at the same time capturing the event with photos. During two summers, in 2005 and 2006, a series of photo sessions took place around Sweden, in the deep forest. The piece was named "Empty Copies". and the photos were numbered in a sequence. The "copies" are made as copies of my body, exact measured and copied in white cloth and white stiching. There was made some ten copies. Again, this piece were never exhibited at any gallery or space, and since kept in the studio.
Empty Copy No. 42 (2006)
Empty Copy No. 29 (2005)
Empty Copy No. 33 (2005)
Follow Me (Scherdin & Thulin 1999)
The initial video, clearly influencing my present work of today, ten years later, "Follow Me" (Scherdin & Thulin), was produced on an airstrip in 1999. Unfortunately it has a poor quality, due to aging and much too cheap videotapes. The idea, at that time as I recall it behind the man walking endlessly on an airstrip, was to create a creature that made a somewhat absurd performance claiming that the audience should follow him but at the same time "him" making a pointless or completely meaningless act. A built in doubleness in following "him", but why and where. The original video "Follow Me" was never shown ifor an audience other than at art school and has stayed in the studioarchives ever since. Even though it is hard to see in the video, it consists of two camera views, merged together in one video documentation. One video captured the full scenery from behind and the other video is captured by "him", during the performance, walking. After the performance the two videos were merged into one, adding effects, in the studio - all finalized in 1999.
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Video documentation of the performance "Follow Me" (Scherdin & Thulin, 1999)
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