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:
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| 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.
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| Thomas Tibert, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and yours unruly. |
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| 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!
All material on this blog is copyright © Carl Abrahamsson, unless otherwise stated.
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