Those who do not move, do not notice their chains

That is a quote by Rosa Luxemburg, and since I saw it last year I have been thinking it is very descriptive of my attitude towards life. I move on and I need to be free. I also keep creating new things.

It’s time for a blog update, enjoy because they don’t come very often, haha!

Last Spring I finished work on the Literature game I was working on with a writer and a programmer, and a larger team of experts and support organizations. The game itself will be launched next month, so I will write more about it later. I have been using this experience of co-creating a serious game for my Master’s thesis in Service Design, that I hope to complete this Autumn. The thesis writing got delayed because I simply had too much work and big changes in my personal life in the Spring to focus on it. But now it is moving onward.

A visualization of the thesis process

I also have a new studio and work space from July onwards. It feels amazing to have a large room all to myself.. white walls to fill with ideas and works in progress. But the funny thing is that I currently mostly work digitally, so I still sit cooped up in one corner of the room with my laptop. I hope I can take time to paint more at some point and really use the space that I have now.

My current large project is illustrating a history book. So far the work and collaboration with the writer, AD and editor has been amazing and so much fun. But also hard work. The past week I have put in hours on creating an old 17th century map. It really brought out my perfectionist streak when it comes to visual design…

Searching for the right style for the history book – some fictional parts of the text bring out nature and animals…

 

Meanwhile I am also doing the layout of another easy to read adaptation of the Moomin books, and drawing simple illustrations for a web based language learning material.

I also really enjoy drawing in this simple and colorful style 🙂

And as always some exciting and very secret projects are bubbling under and moving along in their own pace in my mind and together with some awesome people (usually it’s writers). What I have noticed over the years is that what I really love about illustration is that it is collaborative. I get inspired by others, by meeting new people, and forming new work partnerships. They shape me and push me into new directions, and I hope they feel the same excitement I do when we work towards creating something new together.

So. Moving forward with renewed energy and passion for my work.

Conference presentation on new materialism

Yesterday I presented my initial thoughts and experiments with illustrating and drawing dance at the conference New Materialisms IV: Movement, Aesthetics, Ontology held here in Turku (always very convenient when interesting conferences are held in your own home town). I got some very helpful and inspiring comments from the session (Material processes, artistic practices) participants. A big thanks for this, if any of you happen to come by this post. I have a lot of food for thought now. The organizers had also done a very good job with the conference. It’ll be interesting to see how the conference series develops.

I think one of the bigger themes of the conference was to discuss what makes new materialism new, and I heard many interesting comments on this. It was also valuable for me to get more experience and information about artistic research practices: an area of practice that I find both fascinating and provoking. But anything that is provoking is also alive and developing and interesting.

I’m not sure what direction my drawing dance-project will take after this, but it will probably keep ricocheting between art and research. Hopefully I will find a target somewhere in between that is fruitful.

A new review and an upcoming presentation

A Twitterfriend alerted me about a very nice review of Bildbindaren in Dagens bok (in Swedish)! Made me very happy!

And I’m planning some interesting illustration/research stuff this spring. I’ve been thinking for a long time about using illustration as part of my research in a project after the thesis is finished. And now I got a paper on this theme accepted at an upcoming conference in Turku in May: New Materialisms IV: Movement, Aesthetics, Ontology. I’ m very excited about this opportunity to present som initial thoughts about drawing as visual sociology, and I’m especially hoping it will lead me on towards post-doc research that transgresses the borders of art and scientific research. It’s also going to be great to hear the key note speakers.