Two fantastic books I have been reading lately. I have been a little bit fed up with literature for a couple of years but as always with books it’s about finding the right ones.

Someone else can probably sum them up better but Technic and Magic is about the relationship in-between society as a control mechanism/reality definer (technic) and imagination of other realities as the way in which we move beyond rigid systems (magic).

Back to Reims is a beautiful description of class a  journey and at the same time a credible study of the racist right wing movements of the western world and how these are related to the abandonment of the working class.

They have been invaluable inspiration in a time when the world is on fire and art in general is very commercialized and stale or flat and overtly political in a way that mostly feels forced and about positioning.

There is still an abundance of artists that make fantastic work though. I feel like the biggest problem, for artists is the expectations on style and consistency. Something that inevitably paints you into a corner as an artist of repeating images that, once outplayed by zeitgeist, easily can be discarded and replaced.

I have been on Instagram for 20 years almost until I stopped and it’s interesting to think back on all those artists that where all over instagram 10 years ago and now I remember almost none of them.

I think an alternative for artists is to seek ways of expression within their own practice and let the glue that sticks all the work together be the concise path you follow. In my opinion this has been demonstrated especially well by female artists the past 50 years. I’m talking about artist like Camille Henrot, Sophie Calle, Louise Bourgeois, Ida Ekblad, Jana Euler etc

Diverse practices shifting in themes, material and look while still maintaining a certain obtuse feel that reminds of the artist herself. In many ways making them irreplaceable.

Not directly related to the books above but still something that revolves around a certain kind of topics connected to resistance, imagination, dealing with capitalism, individual/class freedom and art making.