Annika Eriksson
A recurring theme in discussions with students and colleagues, is the nature of a process, the process of making art. In an area with so few absolutes as art, the bittersweet topic offers a common ground. The frequently so time-consuming, painful and yet absolutely fascinating process is something to which all artists can relate. Procrastinating, researching and then ultimately doing can be such a challenging part of the artistic process, however, that one resolutely feels that a golden shortcut must exist.
Although there is no such easy route, there are some ways of dealing with this. A first essential step is to let go of the anxious desire to please. To forget about what you “should” and rediscover what you really want to do can be key when the lock has jammed. Perhaps you need an archive to dive into, a compilation which can remind you of what really sets you ablaze. As an artist you are constantly working, everything around you can potentially contribute to what you do. To keep your eyes open and release that knot of anxiety can help you enter the subtle state of conscious unconsciousness.
The course of wrestling with something that does not yet exist requires you to actively search for those things, however ridiculous, that gets you going. To analyze but also daring to let go, trusting both intellect and intuition are key elements. Sometimes you need to put up limitations, a frame within which you can work. By limiting yourself, you are also challenged to find new means of expression; the boundary can become a liberating force.
Biography
Annika Eriksson is a Swedish artist living in Berlin. Over the years, Eriksson has produced a large number of works in which the perception of time, structures of power, and once acclaimed social visions are called into question. Strategically Eriksson plays with the heated debates around the public realm and structures that regulate it, revealing the urban changes and how this is subject to unexpected political appropriations and inversions.