MAGAZINE #1 2009
You skate girl! – Ida makes sure the girls keep on skating music and rythm – Making people come together Everything you do is for real – The act of performance art 1
What is Plural? Plural is a network and forum based in Sweden, formed in 2002. The network consists of artists, organizers, producers and all kinds of people interested of arts and culture. Plural provides you with contacts, knowledge and inspiration, making it easier for you to realize your projects and visions. Plural wants to spread the idea that everyone can create a cultural event. Culture is for all of us and can be made by all of us. Editor-in-chief Jens Choong jens.choong@riksteatern.se Cover photo Jonatan Nyberg
Everything you want is for real!
ContaCt Emelie Bergbohm Tel: +4673 069 6778 emelie_bergbohm@hotmail.com www.plural.se
the Editors This issue
Linnea Olsén Always up to something; philosophizing, knitting mittens, traveling around the world or watching HBO series – rather often everything at the same time. But one thing is for sure; the music is never far away. And neither is her iPhone. linnea.olsen@gmail.com www.linneaolsen.se
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Pernilla Lindblom
Karin Andersson A language lover who likes to see movies with an unexpexted twist and a psychological theme. Due to early morning studies she have become an addict of chocolate tea to wake up.
pernilla.lindblom@gmail.com www.pernillalindblom.se
karin.andersson01@gmail.com
Kind of wanting to know it all, do it all and be everywhere at the same time. But when the hours of the day aren’t enough it’s best to just make a painting. Or take some nice photos with her sweet camera.
Contents 4 Editorial 15 This & That
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Rythm & music
Making people come togehter
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foto: Sara ThorĂŠn
Everything you do is for real
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you skate girl! 3
editorial I have a hard time trying to put this in a humble or elegant way. No matter how I try it’s just easier to be short about it. Plural Magazine is about new independent organizers of culture and arts. The magazines ambition is to show what is going on. That sounded like some selling line for a cheap MTV production and is subtle as the Sin with Sebastian hit from -95 “Shut up and sleep with me”. I don’t know, (don’t get me wrong cause I kind of like that song) but I’m sure that you’ll find interesting content in this magazine. Plural is a national organization with about eight hundred members all across Sweden. Our combined events and shows have an audience with over hundreds of thousands of people every year. That’s why I’m really excited about this new magazine. Plural Magazine will cover projects and people that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to get to know about. Walk the walk or talk the talk? Looking back seven years since the birth of Plural, the world feels a lot different. Many of the established cultural institutions that used to feel like closed museums are now a bit more transparent. Gender, equal opportunities, equality between the sexes and other similar issues are today a more widely discussed topic in the debate within the cultural policy and performing arts community. Therefore I’m nowadays less interested in talking about what needs to be different and more into who are making a difference. In this first issue of Plural Magazine we are introduced to Bonus, Johannes and Ida. They are people who inspire me and always shine of no retreat, no surrender and pushes on until they accomplish their goals. But they are just a few of the hundreds of great people who are part of the nation wide network Plural. I would have liked an enormous book about all of Plurals members and their current projects. But I feel like Plural Magazine is a great start and I would like to thank Karin, Pernilla and Linnea who made Plural Magazine possible.
Jens Choong Plural
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RYTHM and Music –
making people come together
When he lost an old friend, due to the friend’s disabilities, Bonus started an organization to help others in the same situation. Text: Karin Andersson Illustration: Pernilla Lindblom, Karin Andersson Photos: Adil Fadi
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The Christmas concert at the centre for people with physical disabilities in Dakar is coming up and the initiator Bonus M Diallo has got his hands full with organizing it. This is just one of the centre’s activities to entertain and at the same time bring attention to the poor treatment of disabled people in Senegal. Bonus came to Sweden from Senegal about seventeen years ago. Today he lives in the middle of Sweden in Sundsvall – a town of approximately 50,000 inhabitants. He started his exchange-project named Diam Sante, “take care of each other”, about five years ago. In addition to this he has been active in a wide range of cultural activities, including teaching traditional Senegalese dance and drums, as well as starting a multicultural festival in Sundsvall. This event has awakened an interest from the town’s people and others to join organized trips to Senegal, to learn about and be a part of the culture on site. – This is what I know, what I do, what I work with – the culture, Bonus explains to me over the phone. It was during one of his exchange trips to Senegal with Swedish students that Bonus happened to run into a childhood friend in Senegal. His friend was suffering from the nervous disorder polio and had lost his ability to walk. He was now begging for money in the streets to survive. Bonus got an insight of how harsh life for disabled people could be in the country. They promised each other that they would meet up again the next time Bonus was in Senegal. On his return he tried to get in contact with him through a mutual friend, only to find out that his childhood friend had been run over by a bus. The bus driver simply hadn’t seen him crawling across the street at the bus-station. This was a wake-up call for Bonus, who started to investigate what the circumstances for disabled people were in Senegal. He got an urge to do something about his discoveries.
On site in Africa.
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– It’s a dangerous situation they’re living in. They’re being totally left outside society, Bonus tells me. They’re not included and I could have never imagined that it could be like this in my own country. Bonus contacted another friend of his in Senegal. Together they started to build a centre primarily for motorical disabled persons, in an effort to get them off the streets. In the beginning, while planning the Diam Sante project, he happened to get in touch with coaches of Plural in Sweden. They helped him make the project a reality by giving him support during the process.
“I could have never imagined that it could be like this in my own country.” Additional help came through Plural’s forum where Bonus was assisted with writing a project plan to use when working with Diam Sante. Bonus says this has been really useful and encourages other people who want to organize something to get in contact with people like those of Plural; to get help, tips and support. Today the centre in Dakar, among many other things, offers an opportunity to enable for the disabled to integrate more in society by learning a profession like sewing, shoemaking, designing and entrepreneuring. By doing this, they’ll hopefully be able to get a job and be treated more equally. Many of the people at the centre work as volunteers. – They have no resources but I say to them that this is not for us, this is for the next generation – all of Africa. That is my goal; that this is not only for Senegal, this is for all of us.
Jammin’ and making sweet rythm music at the Multicultural Day from 2009 in Skellefteå, Sweden.
Other longterm goals with the project are to improve healthcare and the education for the disabled, which today is inadequately adapted to their needs. Another aim for Bonus is to have more exchange between Sweden and the centre. Last year he brought three guys from Sundsvall who entertained with their jazz band and lived together with the people at the centre. – We teach them to dance, the rhythms, and they’re so talented. They do things that you wouldn’t imagine they could do. Bonus hopes that the centre will continue evolving even more and goes on saying that he hopes that Swedish schools will be able to come and visit, as well as Senegalese people visiting Sweden. The project of Diam Sante works with a cultural perspective as a base in everything they do, since music and culture is a language understood by everyone. The next upcoming event is a Christmas concert at the centre. It will have artists entertaining at the centre’s own basketball field, easily accessible for everyone, disabled or not. This will hopefully bring some positive attention in the local media and open people’s eyes to the centre’s activities. But the plans don’t stop there. The next idea to be carried out is to create a basketball team at the centre. – We want to evolve. Every year we want to do something new. We want this team to become international, that’s our goal. We have started to gain good contact in Sweden so we hope that this will continue to progress, Bonus concludes before our phone call comes to an end. I wish him good luck with the concert before we hang up and it comes to my mind that it is fascinating how much one person can accomplish simply for the sake of others.
Sweden
Senegal
www.diamsante.se (swe)
Fundamental differences Senegal and Sweden have about the same amount of inhabitants even though Senegal’s geographic areal is roughly half the size of Sweden. Some statistics, however, show big differences between the countries.
The literacy rate is estimated to be at 40 % in Senegal compared to 99 % in Sweden. Life expectancies are 53 years old in average in senegal compared to 80 years in sweden. 26 % of the population in Senegal have less than 1 us dollar per day to get by on, which is considered to be extreme poverty.
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Everything you do is for real If you, in an act of performance art, throw bread at saunters whilst standing on high ladders, you risk getting killed. Text & Illustration: Pernilla Lindblom Photo: Sofia Breimo
It was during his studies of teaching practices in theater Johannes first started getting interested in performance art. He wanted to find a new way of expressing himself because he was getting tired of the old conventions of the theatre. – When standing on a stage in a theatre you are doing an interpretation of the emotions and actions of your character. In performance art you are none other than yourself.You don’t pretend to do anything. Everything you do is for real.You don’t act drunk, you are drunk. It is the real feelings that come out. It is all so direct, somehow. Johannes says that tender meetings may occur between the audience and the artist, that it is something cool and nice to be a part of. And Johannes has been a part of a lot of things: theaters, operas, musicals, choirs and more. But it is around performance art he is now mostly circulating. The summer of 2009 he even hosted his very first festival in performance art, called Leiffestivalen. It took place in Luleå in the north of Sweden, starring
a wide range of performance artists from the area. The event got a lot of good press, and the aim for Johannes is to evolve and, in one context or another, repeat the arrangement for the summer of 2010.
“you can provoke people just by the action of performance art itself.” It may sound a bit strange, choosing to place the event in a part of Sweden which only about two percent of the population can reach with a ninety minutes drive, as opposed to an event in Stockholm. About a third of the country’s population lives within the same driving range around Stockholm. But it has is natural explanations as to why Leiffestivalen was produced in the faraway north. It is there Johannes lives. Johannes moved to Haparanda, positioned right at the Finish border, to study during 2007–2009. The small settlement is namely the only town in Sweden 9
The Perfomrance “Standing in flowerpot” in Stockholm. It was about to stand with the head in the dirt, trying to breathe...
with a performance art education. Now, finished with his studies, he keeps on living there and says that the cultural climate is great. – Most people are open to new things. I perform at the most various places, like the yearly winter market in Jokkmokk. It is not as usual with these kinds of performances in the southern parts of Sweden, at city festivals and such. Up here you take advantage of all the resources available. In Stockholm for example, it feels harder and tougher, like you have to elbow your way ahead sometimes. Of course there are also downsides to living so far away. Driving the 1,600 kilometers to Malmö, at the other end of the country, takes almost twenty hours. If you drive without stopping. Thus it is necessary to plan and book ahead. – At those times it feels that you are a bit isolated. But when there is no need to go south there are other merits, besides the god cultural climate, with living in the land of the Midnight sun. – The fact that most do not know so much about Norrland make you feel almost a little exotic, and that is only positive. It can be fun, as an arranger, to get more scattering amongst those who perform; that it is not only artists from Stockholm. Since Johannes has been a part of numerous events, both as planner, performer and audience, he knows what he is talking about. To organize something as complex as a festival is not the easiest thing to manage. – You are diligent and work extremely hard, but receive a lot of “No’s” when you get in touch with people. Often you have to fight a lot to get everything the way you want it. At those times it feels nice to get encouragement, with cheering and such. Johannes says that Plural is very good at giving that support, making you feel like you are not alone, that you can turn to them for help. It’s also a great place to address when in need of contacts and people whom may have answers to your questions. – You can get a lot of tips from the Pluralists, the members. They are sitting on a large resource of knowledge. Having done a few events, Johannes also has some good tips to share to those who want some help pulling their own arrangements together. - Don’t be afraid to ask others for help. Delegate and hand out responsibility. Most people like that and think it is more fun to be a part of a group doing something. Try to find new ways to work and new ways of how to accomplish things. One example could be to call in a band to play during a night of performances. Johannes says that it is all about using the resources available where you live.
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About Johannes Hometown: Haparanda, in the very northern parts of Sweden. Age: 23 years. Performances: Standing in Flowerpot/Stå i blomkruka, Faces/Faces, Bread and acting for the people/Bröd och skådespel åt folket. Arrangements: I am what You eat/Jag är vad du äter, The Leif Festival/Leiffestivalen. Miscellaneous: Johannes has a big interest in food. Amongst other things he is running a vegetarian cookery course. Edible appendages also commonly occur in his performances. If he had not been doing Performance Art he would probably work even more with food, maybe in the role as a chef. More info: www.leiffestivalen.se (swe/eng)
– You help yourself by helping others. And don’t be afraid to make mistakes! You can’t do everything right the first time, you really learn as time goes. But what is it that makes Johannes go through all this effort? What does he want to say to the world? Sometimes it can be very clear and political, like when he made a performance which gave his responses about the environment and consumer society. But other times he does not know at all what it is he wants to say. – Ideas come to you, or you get inspiration from places you don’t know.You simply receive images that you have to do. It is afterwards you may get
what it was all about. It could be a yearning to do something physical. One of those physical yearnings led Johannes to take a naked bath in chocolate pudding, in a large basin in the foyer of Uppsala Stadsteater, the city theatre. The artist says the experience was amazing and recommends other to do it too, floating around in the sweet dessert. – It is a lovely feeling. And chocolate is used in spa-treatments. It is wholesome for your skin and body. I think I felt that. There does not seem to be any limits to what performance art could be. Only the artist draws the limits, and the more the limits are pushed the higher is the potential of better experiences that can be gathered from it. But there are also some downsides. Since performance art per definition is so direct, so connected to the audience and its responses there are risks of being exposed, both as an artist and as one in the audience. Johannes explains that you can provoke people just by the action of performance art itself. Many are still not used to this way of acting, and with the audience so psychically close, able to react on a whim, it can get scary sometimes. During the performance “Bread and Acting for the People”, Johannes and a few other performance artists had climbed up on ladders. From up there they threw bread crumbs at the people passing by. It was all in a theatrical context, as a fun, innocent thing. – We thought it was amusing having some of the audience standing with their mouths open trying to catch the bread, just like ducks. But there was someone who did not appreciate the action, someone who furiously wanted Johannes to fall fatally to the ground. The old lady shaking his ladder.
Performance Art – What is it? History The Performance Art as we know it today started appearing in the 1960’s and 1970’s. However it evolved from the so called happenings in the 1920’s. At those days the Dadaism was a very controversial movement within the art world. Its whole idea was about questioning what art is, and the hierarchy around art in society.
The Surrealism is also believed to have left its marks on the Performance Art. The most important part which Performance Art picked up from the Dada and the Surrealism, was the idea about the art, not the art work in itself. The focus is on the message, the concept, the action. That is why Performance art to have to be staged live.
Performance Art happens right here, right now: it is live without exceptions. There are no limits to what Performance art can be. 11
you skate girl!
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Usually you see boys on the skateboard. Thank god it’s not all the time. This project is all about girls, girls, girls... And skateboarding, of course. Text: Linnea Olsén Foto: Sebastian Thorén, Jonatan Nylander & Per A Adsten Girls from one of You Skate Girl’s skateboard camps in 2009.
Umeå, in the north of Sweden, just got a new outdoor skateboardpark. The project leader for this is 24 year old Ida Östensson. Ida, who originally is from Umeå, was working in Stockholm when she got a call from the municipality office in her hometown offering her a job too good to say no to. So she left her work and apartment and moved up north again, to where the sun is up almost 24/7 in the summer and where the winter lasts for almost half a year.
to them and asked why they where there and if they wanted to try as well. The answers where all the same: – But what? I’m a girl. Ida had previously been snowboarding, wakeboarding, longboarding and surfing, but never thought about skateboarding. She decided then and there to start with the latter and formed the organization You Skate Girl. Today, four years later, You Skate Girl have had a great deal of skateboarding camps with over five hundred girls attending. –You Skate Girl have become so good because there is an incredible interest for a lot of girls to ride skateboard. We are often door openers to that world. Ida and the girls have worked a lot with role models, to show that there are a lot of cool girls skateboarding and to break down the prejudices, proving that there is nothing weird with girls skating. Some girls need an entrance where
“There is so much money and organizations that just sit around and wait for your idea.” Ida got into skateboarding when she was working with the youth council in Umeå. One of the projects there was a skateboard contest. When the competition was over not one single girl had participated in the competition, although there were plenty of girls hanging around in the area. In frustration she walked up
they can feel comfortable on the board before they go out and rip off with other skateboarders. Being a girl in this male dominated sport turned a lot of heads in the beginning, but now it’s becoming a more and more common sight. Ida is a real driven spirit and have made sure that there are girl’s nights in the skateboard arena. She sees to the girls getting a lot of support and help with arrangements. For instance she drives the girls in Umeå back and forth from the arena. That might be difficult in a larger city, but the municipality of Umeå only have roughly 111,000 inhabitants. Although the city is small it’s a city which is alive. It was voted “best youth municipality” last year and will be the European Capital of Culture in 2014. When it comes to culture Ida has a lot to say: – Culture is everything. What would life be without it? Culture is sports, culture is theater, culture is food, culture is opinions, culture is everything we create together.You and I are culture. But when it comes to what is important in culture she says it’s love and 13
respect and that as many as possible can ride with the train. – In the culture sector I more specifically would answer that the priority in resources must be re-evaluated, more to the “do it yourself ”-culture, the so called “ugly culture” and less to the institutions and their fine culture. Ida has a lot of tips regarding organizing cultural events. – Promote your idea to as many as possible. Check your idea with people who have done similar stuff and learn from their work.You don’t always have to invent the wheel on your own. – My absolute best tip is to never give up if you have an idea. There is so much money and many organizations that just sit around and wait for you idea.
in You Skate Girl made a tour through Sweden, skateboarding at all the forgotten places in the north. They had one girl from the Canadian organization Skirtboarders joining them. Skirtboarders originates from Montreal. It started in 2002 when a bunch of girls, sharing the same passion, got together to skateboard and just have fun. The contact with other skategirls is always kept up. Ida is now working to organize an exchange project between
last summer Ida and the girls
the best skateboard girls in Canada and Sweden to get together the summer of 2010. Until then Ida will go international in December when she and her love are travelling to San Francisco to experience the skateboard culture – where it once all started.
www.skirtboarders.com (eng/fre) http://bloggen.nolimitskate.se (swe) www.youskategirl.com (swe)
Thinking about the future, Ida dreams that the skate scene will become so equal that girl organizations like You Skate Girl and No Limit don’t even need to exist.
“we are often door openers to that world.” No Limit gathers all of the smaller organizations in Sweden who works with girls and skateboarding. Ida hopes that the skate culture is going be so strong and have a good platform so that everything is not depending on engaged commited spirits in each municipality, and that skateboarders will have the right to practice their interest. – I have a dream… that I will be able to continue to work with young people and their interest my whole life.
Skateboarding It all started back in 1957 when a surfshop dude in California, USA, noticed all the surfers were bored in the winter when it was too cold to surf. He tried to put rollerskating wheels on a piece of wood and that’s how the skateboard was invented. The second wave was in the mid 70’s when some boys in Venice Beach, California, started skateboarding in a new way in drained pools, among other places. The store they were working in was called Zephyr and the boys with Tony Alva in front was called Z-boys. A movie starring Heath Ledger was made about this in 2005: “Lords of dogtown”.
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The latest wave which is still going strong started in the middle of the 80’s with Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen. Today skateboarding has become a really big thing and a lot of riders can now live on the money from sponsors and competition prices they get. Girls have always been present in skateboarding, but when it got hardcore in the 70’s a lot stopped skating. Today more and more girls start again, with No Limit and You Skate Girl in Sweden backing up the girls. In the days UK’s first all-girl skateboard movie is released, called “As If, and What?”.
This & that
Reggae Rock & Rights tour
The two commited project leaders in charge of The Reggae Rock and Right Tour: Halvard Rundberg from Norway and Ylva Maria Pavval from Sweden. Photo: Adam Wännman Zetterqvist
The Reggae Rock and Rights Tour is a project aimed towards youth, created by youth in the Barents region, which includes northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and northwest of Russia. In this region there are three indigenous peoples living: veps, nenets and saami. The idea for this project is to mix human rights discussions with and live music and entertainment from the region. The goal is to make it interesting and exciting for youth in the area to talk about human rights, without visiting complicated conferences or meetings with politicians. In December of 2009 the pre-project that has investigated the opportunities for making this tour happen comes to an end. During 2010 it is intended to execute the tour, which is planned to stay in the four regions for about 3-5 days each. Read more about this project, get involved and get information on what is going on right now at http://barentstour.wordpress.com (eng)
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INSPIRATION
Role playing
Maline Casta
Maline works with stage art and artists. Check out her stage designs, graphics and photography and more in her portfolio at:
Peace One Day Ever wished for just one single day of peace in the world? So has Jeremy Gilley. Watch what he’s up to with his global peace project at:
Interested in role-playing or to try it? April 22–25 there will be a role play convent located at Fiskeboda, two hours bus ride from Stockholm, Sweden. This year’s Knutpunkten conference will have the theme “Show Not Tell” where everyone’s invited to perform. Have a look at the nordic website Nordic Scene for news and events about role play to get the latest updated information.
www.malinecasta.com (eng)
www.peaceoneday.org (eng)
www.nordicscene.org (eng)
Youtube buzz Are you one of those people who get stuck on YouTube watching fascinating videos of people’s talents and weird things they do? Well, here’s some more to inspire you. To get to the right video, just enter www.youtube.com and search for the title.
Inflatable Street Art
Joshua Allen Harris makes street art out of plastic bags.
Paintjam Performance Art
Check out Dan Dunn as he twists and turns his hand made paintings, making amazing portraits.
The Orginal Human Tetris A stop-motion movie about one of the world’s most famous games.
Creepy Japanese Crawling Robot
Is he for real or not? This guy makes you wonder...
“Creativity is
allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” Scott Adams, cartoonist/author 15
10 steps to make your event happen 4. MONEY
1. IDEA
First things first, put your idea down on a piece of paper and think it through. What is it you want to accomplish and why? What do you need to make it happen? Can you find people you know who want to help?
2. ORGANIZATION
It’s easier to get what you want if people know who you are. Form an organization or choose a name for you or your group to be remembered by. Figure out a name for the event itself as well.
3. EVENT PLAN
Write down the answers to what you’re going to do, why, for who, where it takes place, when and how. This is good to make clear both for yourselves, to sponsors and other people who come in contact with the event.
Start to search for funding using the event plan. There’s a lot of money out there. Even the smallest things from companies or organizations can help; some fruit for the band for instance.
5. LOCATION
Decide where your event takes place and organize with the permissions and equipment you need.
8. DOCUMENT IT
Gather everything about the event: articles, adverts, pictures and make a kind of portfolio or scrapbook of the event to show others afterwords.
9. DO THE EVENT
Enjoy the big day. Prepare as much as possible beforehand. If you have artists or performers on site – make sure they’re satisfied.
6. MARKETING
Saying thank you is easy to do and mean so much. Don’t forget to give cred to the crew, sponsors and others involved who made the project possible.
7. DETAILED PLAN
10. AT LAST
Show the public and friends what you’re up to. Promote with flyers, posters, social networks like Facebook and face-to-face.
Organize the event in detail; who’s responsible for doing what? Have a plan B in case of unforeseen things; people can get sick, be late or don’t show up at all...
When everything is done there’s still one thing left to do. Evaluate the project; what was good, bad, not made and thoughts you have for your next events.
Everything you want is for real! www.plural.se