Ottilia Adelborg: Assembling the World (2018)

2018, publication, newspaper style, 48 p. b/w, ISBN 978-91-639-8056-5
Produced as part of the international exchange project GAIR –
Gagnef Artist-in-Residence Programme 2017-2018: The Legacy of Ottilia
with support from The Swedish National Heritage Board (RAÄ) and Ottilia Adelborgmuseet
Graphic design, editorial work and writing: Jacek Smolicki
Editorial work and writing: Camilla Larsson
Writing: Sara Rossling

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

As a visual artist, I am often drawn to seemingly forgotten and overlooked phenomena: to that which takes place at the corner of the eye. Arriving in Gagnef last summer to encounter the legacy of Ottilia Adelborg was therefore quite intriguing. Who was she, and what drove her in her comprehensive artistic endeavour? Presented with her collection of newspaper clippings, mounted on archival sheets in eighteen cardboard boxes, I decided to work my way through the material. What would it tell me about Adelborg and her time, filtered through the eyes of our own? How can we use history to catch sight of the present? In Ottilia Adelborg: Assembling the world, a publication in the shape of a newspaper is unfolded into a spatial installation. Developed in close collaboration with artist and researcher Jacek Smolicki, the aim of the publication is to offer a glimpse into Adelborg’s extensive and slightly random collection of magazine- and newspaper fragments. To me, her “archival impulse” speaks of a strong curiosity and sensitivity towards the surrounding world: a will to reach out and understand more about the processes of change that we are constantly immersed in, about our own “place” in relation to that of others. Perhaps collecting and archiving can be seen as a way to take responsibility? During the exhibition for which the newspaper was produced, Unfold a Place, 2018.07.06 – 2018.09.16, visitors were invited to assemble their own copy of the newspaper. More information about releases and distribution will be added shortly.

Download review of the exhibition Unfold a Place written by Erik Augustin Palm,
Dalarnas Tidningar, 2018.07.14 (Swedish): Ett Dala-konstnärskap vecklas ut och förs vidare
Download press information about the exhibition (Swedish): Unfold a Place