#78 AIR BLEKINGE – ANDREJ POLUKORD

Konstnären Andrej Polukord från Litauen var en av konstnärerna som deltog i årets upplaga av AIR Blekinge, ett konstnärsresidens som drivs av Konst i Blekinge och Kulturcentrum Ronneby konsthall. Residenset har ett Östersjöperspektiv och fungerar som ett kreativ och konstnärlig katalysator både för de deltagande konstnärerna och för regionala samarbeten.

Andrej Polukord har bl.a. arbetat med sitt performativa projekt ”Wood Statues” under sin vistelse. Hans verk rör sig kring teman som natur och miljöfrågor och han berör allvarliga teman, ofta med ett stråk av humor. Under vistelsen har han skissat på ett förslag till ett street art monument för skogens guld.
Andrej är verksam i Vilnius, Litauen. Lyssna till samtalet med Susanne Skog och reflektioner över residensvistelsen under AIR Blekinge.

Andrej Polukord – Om Wood statues

During my residency I spent a lot of time exploring the area, especially the forests, nature, and countryside. I was curious about the solitary wood pedestals, trees cut in half into tree stumps and being left in deforested fields. The wood trunks are surrounded by the typical landscapes I experienced in Sweden, the Scandinavian landscape motif characterized by stones or rocks. Some of situations been interesting for me just of the motif. I found one wood pedestal just outside the door of where I lived during my residency in Ronneby.

To me, these stumps evoke pedestals for the monuments often placed in empty city squares. Here in the woods, however, they form a monument to anti-ecology. They appear as hermetic witnesses to a policy of quick money-making through deforestation of thousands of acres by the logging industry. Putting a human body—my own—on top of such “pedestals,” the artist reminds us of who initiated this situation. Nowadays we see forest like benefits of capital. We see dollars, euros or yuan’s behind, instead seeing it in deeper, sustainable, regenerative and recreational way.

Right now, I am reading the book about forest’s underground life Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake. I wonder how little we know about life in the forest and if we even ever will know more, if we destroy some species. As after they gone – many species of mycelium can just disappear. This influences chain reaction to other lives in the woods at the same time as ours.

The series Wood statues is an ongoing performance- and photography work. In total, I have accumulated quite a bit of locations for future photographs. In cooperation with the reporter and artist Tor Jonson, we documented these situations on medium format film in the end of my stay in Blekinge.

At the same time, my thoughts revolved around the production of the art industry. What is this art practice, a sustainable art product? Is sustainability possible in creating art in general? Where is the border between “sustainable/unsustainable”?

As a gallerist (Galerie Uberall) and collector, I have engaged in activity and my passion to collect. Instead of collecting art, I collect mushrooms - chanterelles. Each chanterelle is different from another. There will never be twins. Moreover, it’s a perfect example of work of art created by nature. Chanterelles regenerate every 14 days, so it is also best example of a “sustainable creation”, if we are really caring about sustainability... In Sweden, chanterelles been often titled as "Skogens Guld - Forest Gold". (No wonder! Look how shiny they are standing on green carpet of moss).

I tried to find Forest Gold in the Blekinge region. However, I could not find anything here at all.
I realized then, there are no mushrooms in the region due to the previous drought. For that reason, in a while I had to travel to neighboring regions to look for them, further to the north, where it was more humid. It was much better there, but it took me time to understand this fact and then the idea of a sign came to my mind. The Sign would work as a reference, showing where it would be possible to expect to find this "Forest Gold". A large chanterelle would be hung high above the driving part of the road and in this way it would show the direction to those who want to, but do not know where to find Forest Gold. The installation is related with a project, Wood Object, that I’ve been working on, for some time.

For some time, I have been curios of street art possibilities, it's freedom. In my practice, street art has been transformed into art in the forest, or on the way to it. On old advertising banners, I paint an object, then I cut it out and, using ropes, I string it between two trees in the forest, mostly over a road. I call this installation cycle Wood object. Such a Wood objects should surprise the viewer, as if the forest itself had joked and the object would come out of the forest. I like to see human body as a tool or an object in street art. Because when we have alive object, it can affect and provoke much more powerfully than using just paint, or just “dead” object. Clear body language and the fact of objective “scenario happening” communicates of itself.

Once, while searching, I noticed an extraordinary structure - a former tree trunk, cut and, I would say perfectly crushed (if crushing can be called "perfect") by a tractor's caterpillar into small needles. It immediately appeared to me as a perfectly formed sculpture and reminded me of an animal – the hedgehog. So, I have titled that work The Hedgehog and would like to exhibit this structure at a festival in France in 2024.

Some of my works can say several things at the same time. Depending on person who looks into them, one can see one, another will see completely different thing. Some of my works have clear straight message. Some of them describes current situations in the world. I have noticed the older I am, the more my works transform into sort of replica of the things going on in this world.

Avsnittsinformation

Produktion: Susanne Skog
Musik: Jesper Norda
Ansvarig utgivare: Konst i Blekinge
Längd: 23 min 59 sek

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Andrej Polukord, född i Vilnius, har studerat i Wien, konstnär och gallerist.
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