I was born in 1983, in a small appartment in one of
Aarhus´ (DK) central areas. Not long after my family moved outside of the city,
to a small village with only a 100 people living amongst fields, lakes and
animals. My parents still live in the same house as where I grew up, with the
surrounding countryside as my playground, and the local school within biking
distance. What was valuable for me at that time was the small scale of
everything. It made your neighbours become your friends, let you explore the
surroundings and decide how your sparetime should be used for; building huts
and caves, walking two miles to buy an icecream, being bored, helping my
parents in the garden, hanging out with the older kids because they were bored.
My mother was for a time a ceramist and a painter, and a general creativity was
engouraged in the family (packing watercolours, coal and pencils along with the
food on outings). She is on purpose opposite her parents, while my dad in many
ways have the same characteristics and his parents. That has made him curious
of things, and very much a collector. I am now 28, and look to be very much
like my dad.
Discovering what should be my main focus of carrér in life
was not easy. I tried different schools, moved to Bruxelles for a while, and
traveled. Art history was right under my nose, as a family legacy; thereby
difficult to be convinced of it being the right choice.
As I moved to Aarhus, got a BA in Arthistory I worked in
various places, night and day jobs. LYNfabrikken in Aarhus became my first
meaningful job in relation to what I work with now. It is not strange that it
was also here that I met some of the people that I now call my dearest friends,
and have continued to work and talk with. In Denmark we have a support (SU)
that pays students a certain amount every month while studying. It is a steady
income that pays a normal small room/apartment and food. I worked the entire
time while studying, partly to be able to live a better life, and partly
because work seemed to have an practical effect to my approach to the else
theory based Art history.
As Aarhus is a small town, in
2009 I left for the capital. Before leaving for Copenhagen I had an internship
at an young artgallery by the name of Machwerket – meaning an unfinished og not
very well done piece of art. The galleryowner moved to Berlin, and I was in charge of the place for an
year and a half. Entering Copenhagen I started my master in Modern Culture. I
got an apartment that I could afford, and a job at a bar to supplement the SU.
I had met Majken
Hviid at LYNfabrikken and found a friend with whom I shared a lot of thoughts
and interests. We started a union called Klondike, as we wanted to have a frame
from where we could try out the ideas and experiments that the university
couldn´t contain. Quietly we began with small urban experiments, involving
mainly friends and passers-by. Suddenly we got comissioned to do a major job
involving 2 schools and 80 students, a project running over 10 months, and with
a bit of salary. After that we felt capable and more skilled. I quit my job
partly because i lacked the time, and if I lived cheaply, things could work
with that bit of money from working with projects. Majken being from
Anthropology and me from Arthistory we needed some skilled hands when working
with design – and construction tasks. Kasper Kjeldgaard became our third part
in Klondike. Together with 6 other beautiful people, in 2011 we took on a major
project making Prags Have (Pragues Garden), an alternative community garden in
Copenhagen in 2010. No salary has been involved during this one year that we
have all made the garden. Prags Have, have won some awards and prestige which
has the effect that we are asked to consult, give advice and participate in
other projects alike. It creates a little money, but they go to the garden.
Sideways we have colaborated with Arkitekter Uden Grænser (Architecture Sans
Frontier) in Denmark with various things. All projects that we have done so far
, has been backed up financially by private and public funding. It sets a few
boundaries to the projects, that you have to suit them to a specific task, but
for most matters it has not been limiting. The idea behind the projects have
never been to earn money, though we strive to make ends meet and a general rule is that, when devoting time on
a voluntairy basis, it should never cost you anything.
In every work I
do, I think it to be related to what we do in Klondike. It is an investment in
skill and experience. We have now set up a large office from where we are
working on an exhibition, a second season of Prags have, contributing to a book
and a childrens festival and making a cookbook of stories, collages and
recipies. Some containing salary and some not, fortunatly I am are my own boss.
The liberty to create and decide entirely on our own premises are dearly
bought, and very important for my own progress in skill and learning.
10.02.2012
