Carl Abrahamsson: HAPPY NEW YEAR?

Another year passed by, as years usually do. For me, this one was almost too intense and too high-paced. All my own fault though. However, almost all of the things that happened were good, so I shouldn't really complain!

TRAPART manifested a new web site and published Andrew McKenzie's " '''''''" " (being an exposition and elucidation of an eternal work by The Hafler Trio. Work on Tom Benson's book Visionary went well, as did the development of an amazing volume of photographs of Anton LaVey (both books are due in the spring). Join the Trapart mailing list so you won't miss out!

EDDA accelerated even more than during 2012, and published Hans Andersson's lovely self-titled book of art, Aleister Crowley's Snowdrops from a Curate's Garden with illustrations by Fredrik Söderberg, The Fenris Wolf issue no 6, my own novel Mother, Have A Safe Trip and Fredrik's incredible art book Haus CG Jung. Not bad for a hobby endeavour, methinks! Join the Edda mailing list so you won't miss out!

HIGHBROW LOWLIFE finally got off the ground in 2013 with a Phonofile partnership and a website with a store of its own. This was of course what was needed for Thomas Tibert and me to start digging deep in the audio archives. And then start releasing stuff on a regular basis. Now we're doing it! Loads to come!

The documentary series An Art Apart was brought to life in the spring and active work on that as a project has been most satisfying. Five documentaries are currently in production: Vicki Bennett, Gustaf Broms, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Andrew McKenzie and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge... And more are in the works for 2014. Many thanks to the willing "victims" and to my talented partners in the creative cluster AMP (Henrik Møll and Mikael Prey). Good times! Good times up ahead too! Movies are magic!

I published a novel that I'd been working on for a couple of years off and on: Mother, Have A Safe Trip. A most peculiar process and henceforth a true vocation. I'll begin writing the next novel on New Year's Day 2014.

I also finished editing the book Reasonances, which is an anthology of writings and lectures I've churned out over the years. It will first see the light of day in French (as Raisonances) in 2014, published by Camion Noir. More languages/countries will follow.

Beautiful trips to Poland, England, the US, Denmark, Norway, Estonia and Switzerland. Have art, will travel! Have books, will travel! Have lectures, will travel! Et cetera. There are too many people to thank in this cosmopolitical regard, so I'll just extend a general THANK YOU to everyone who has made this year such an exciting and successful adventure for me...

There was some good art around too, of course. I was too busy working most of the time so I missed out on a lot. Some highlights though:

The screening of Gustaf Broms' The Tree is my fave art event of the year!

The screening of Gustaf Broms' The Tree at Uppsala Konstmuseum in March. Probably the best film ever made. Impossible to describe. An ultra-ambitious triptych describing the life of a tree during one year's time, inclusive of nearby, strange goings-on with Broms' returning black-clad masked protagonist(s). Ferociously fractalising and re-assembling on synaptic levels. A masterpiece!

Wiktor Ericsson's documentary on Joe Sarno's life and work blew my mind: The Sarnos – A Life in Dirty Movies. It has everything a good docu should have: an interesting subject matter and a respectful approach to it. No pushing, no shoving, no fickle-filmmaker-filtering, just an intelligent porn-pot-pourri of interviews and fragments of life. Very inspirational for me in the An Art Apart series mentioned above.

Helmut Newton at Fotografiska in Stockholm. I feel a little bit jaded when it comes to Helmut Newton, having been a fan for some 30 odd years now. But it's remarkable how vibrant and powerful his images still are – even those within commissions for commercial work. Although he didn't agree with the label, Newton really was an exquisite artist, determined to create pictures in his own way. No exhibition will ever be able to match the one at Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin in 2000 of course, but this considerably smaller one was still nice to see.

The Hilma af Klint show at Moderna Museet in Stockholm was a blast. A major show in many ways. Although her paintings have been exhibited before in Sweden, this ambitious show was so well put together – and so well attended – that noone could no longer voice any doubts about that there's a very general interest in art and the esoteric nowadays. This was validated and/or amplified by a symposium at the museum towards the end of the exhibition called The Art of Seeing the Invisible.

Christine Ödlund's exhibition Musik för Eukaryoter at Galleri Riis in Stockholm. Living nettles took over the gallery space, beautifully structured around Christine's intricate Chi-based plantalisms and floralisations. A unique organic vision and a wonderful execution, as usual.

Fredrik Söderberg's exhibition Jag är den som begraver gudar i guld och ädelstenar at Galleri Riis in Oslo. Majestic! Edda produced the book Haus CG Jung, which is beautiful and majestic too, to coincide with the exhibition. But to see Fredrik's large paintings in the flesh is something else. The mix between his very two-dimensional architectural structures and his very four-dimensional soulscapes generates a third dimension inbetween: the cosmic (beyond) average. There are not many artists around who can generate this today.

Thomas Tibert, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and yours unruly.

Banging my own drum (or, rather, turning my own mixing desk knobs): the concert Cotton Ferox (disguised as White Stains) did together with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge at Nefertiti in Gothenburg on June 29th became something of a turning point for me. It's always such a hassle to be involved with the logistics of touring and playing, but even that couldn't stop me from actually feeling very elevated during the concert itself. Everything and everyone sort of disappeared when art took command. Thank you, art. Listening to a recording of the gig afterwards, I realize we have indeed come a long way. Thanks to Thomas Tibert, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Eriq Olin, Joachim Nordwall, Ryan Martin, everyone at Nefertiti and everyone at ESSWE4.

Cotton Ferox preparing to get ready to prepare Poland. Tak!

The Cotton Ferox concert in Warszawa in November was by far the best we've ever done. Can't explain it. Everything was just right. A magical night. Thanks and praise to Thomas Tibert, Bartek Samitowski, Monika, Dariusz Misiuna, Azja John, Monseigneur Gaap Kvlt, Johan Hamrin, everyone at Trans/Wizje and Laboratorium CSW, the Kosmos-Kosmos experience and most especially to post facto inspiratrix Helena Malewska.

I also have to add the setting free of the Mega Golem in this context. Over the past years I've built a magical creature entirely out of art, together with friends and fellow creators. The being was set free during the Cotton Ferox concert in Warszawa on November 17th, and it felt like a great relief. The Mega Golem was ripe and ready and is now doing what it's supposed to. I feel very proud and happy that the project has been such a great success so far. Many heartfelt thanks to those who contributed!

Some noteworthy demises this year: Colin Wilson, who wrote well and a lot, Al Goldstein, who fought for freedom of expression in his own peculiar ways, and Zbigniew Karkowski, who made loud music. Wilson and Goldstein were old, Karkowski was not. Remember that when it comes to death, there is no justice whatsoever. Memento Mori, folks!

AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!