JOHANNA ADEBÄCK
WORKS ABOUT CONTACT


         

   

  +46707140330
Site-specific, time-based artwork | Installation 2012














 

+46707140330 took place during the spring exhibition at Konstfack (Stockholm University of Art, Craft and Design), 16th - 27th of May 2012. At first impression the work consisted of a closed white door with a note saying:

To enter, you need to call the artist
and ask to be let in.
+46707140330

The visitor was faced with the question whether to call or not, and needed to decide if she/he wished to engage in the artwork. For the ones who did not call, the work functioned as a conceptual piece, existing foremost in the visitors mind. However, the one who did call was part of the situation/performance that started with the decision to interact. Depending on my position at the current time the visitor needed to wait for a different amount of time. I could not leave Stockholm during +46707140330, but otherwise I was free to move as I wished. I kept the door key around my neck and I was not allowed to ask someone else to step in for me. When meeting the one(s) who called I shook hands and presented myself, then released the key from my neck and unlocked the door. Before letting the visitor(s) in I asked her/him/them to see that the door was closed when leaving. I locked the door when the visitor(s) had entered and then left, thus allowed the situation to repeat itself.

In the room the two months logbook kept during Going Offline (see "works") hanged on the walls. The days were presented in chronological order, starting on the left side of the door.

The logbook tells the story about an artist’s experiences during a two-months period of disconnection. It is written in colloquial style or language, due to the fact that it is a transcription from a spoken record. It contains a mixture of reflections on the artist’s own situation, descriptions of events in the everyday life and information and reflections on the project. Focus is put on communication with others, how this is solved and dealt with. Overall, 59 different people are mentioned in the text, more or less frequently. Each day’s record starts with the date and, in almost all, a description of the current location. Through the text we can follow the artist’s moves to different locations, all from a seven hour bus ride between Stockholm and Gothenburg, to a 2 minutes walk to the nearest telephone booth. The text does not give any clear answers and it ends without any conclusion, but it offers a material which can be used as a platform for one’s own interpretations and reflections on concepts like dependence, interpersonal relationships, distance and time. Extracts can be put together to create a glimpse or insight into a world without the Internet and mobile phones.