love and devotion meets Soc.
Soc. Stockholm - an undefined space with a view!

Soc. consists of seven artists who have graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Umeå and The University Collage of Arts, crafts and design, Stockholm.

Soc.Stockholm, Bondegatan 64 on Södermalm in Stockholm. An ex sweetshop now turned into a room for social and artistic experiments... three large storefront windows, a space in a corner with a door that was cut open during a performance/exhibition (now fixed) -it seems so much like such an open, available space that people walking by stop and ask if it's for sale or up for rent. An architect opened the door and asked if it was an architectural office!? The feeling of openness is simply in the walls - here meetings, lectures and parties can take place, films or soccergames are screened. Now and then artists have been invited to do something. This is the common denominator for the people behind soc...

love and devotion meets three members of Soc., Karin Willén, Annica Drougge and Tobias Sjödin.

We are peeping in behind the curtains, asking about when and why soc. was formed, if their large storefront windows have a specific meaning, if it works the way they thought it would work. All questions and answers turn into a conversation, a very inspiring one where we find we have a lot in common.

When answering the question "why was soc. formed?" answers like independence, freedom, that there was a need for a space to put down your foot in, to work in a different way, to take control over your situation, to crush the myth...the artist as an irresponsible child, to create a meetingplace, an open space that can be filled...also to create a platform from which one can legalize ones actions, that's how it works, it becomes easier to motivate ones own investigations and ones ideas, both considering the separate artist and the projects in common. The importance of that this platform is Soc.'s own. The whole thing started with that they wanted to do something fun togheter. Which they later realized worked out very well.

"What significance do the windows have?" They turned out to be very important, they deal with such things as transparency , communication with the surroundings, the audience, to watch and to be watched, outside and inside, what's going on is not defined which means that the windows create curiosity on both sides, people have a very high threshold before they knock on the door, and nobody really asks you to come in so the windows have more to give. This room is the opposite of the secluded artstudio. A room for meetings between people, in stark contrast to the workings of the uncontemporary, heroic, introspective and lonely artist.

We ask "What do you say if we say attention is power?" " -Yes, that's how it is...we give the people who exhibit our attention, we say that we think they are good, it gives power to the people who show stuff and also to us who show them."

The large windows facing the street is like a sign for Soc.'s social activity. Everything is visible, nothing is consiously mystified, interest is spurred through the changing milieu the passersby are exposed to. A network of female artists meet here as well as the board of the residents of the building, who sometimes get to use the space.

Soc. have, among other things, announced a utopian - worldshampionship, where now a winner is about to be crowned. A large number of proposals have been turned in, from all continents except Africa. A jury consisting of learned men and women are at this very moment reading the 10 finalist contributions. In December 2001, we will know who was awarded the price of 1000 USD!

"love and devotion" has a siblingsoul in soc. Their work is a kick and inspiration to us! We take the opportunity to thank soc. for their generosity concerning these four days when we get to have free disposal of their space.

Members of Soc. are Anna-Lena Lundmark, Annika Drougge, Karin Wilén, Tobias Sjödin, Pernilla Carlsson, Jon Brunberg, and Johan Malmström.