Embrace / to be a part of - A day at Kummelholmen #4

During “A day at Kummelholmen #4” I opened up the project “embrace” or “to be a part of” which is a work in progress. It is an interactive installation where the visitor is co-creator of the work. Through a bodily sensual experience of painting, the work wants to visualize thoughts around being. This day I was able to explore together with visitors what happens in the work and in the experience of the work.

How does the visitor’s perspective change when they are embraced by painting, when the art is worn on their own body and in this way also become part of the spatial composition? By cutting out capes/mantels from paintings that the visitors can wear, the color and the painting can detach themselves into the space. The visitor cannot see themselves from the outside but gets a sensual experience of being inside/under the canvas. The other visitors who carry paintings on their bodies are visible to be reflected in and the remaining material of the painting is displayed in the room. Together, the mantels/paintings, the remains, the room and the visitors form a unit. A movable installation arises.

The installation seems to give birth to existential thoughts by raising awareness of feelings around presence, human belonging and origin/identity. The focus shifted from the visitor's own person to being part of something larger, a context. Many said that they felt protected by the painting, others that they felt valuable when they carried the painting on their shoulders and that their movement patterns changed. With these experiences, I will now move on to build a complete work show it publicly at an art gallery.

The work is an attempt to get close to the outer & inner gaze at the same time, creating a shift in perspective to make your own position in existence visible.

Is it ever possible to understand what another person is experiencing? Walking in someone else's shoes is an expression, it tells you that you need to have a similar experience to truly understand what is going on inside the other person.

Images from "A day at Kummelholmen #4 Anna Nyberg" April 12, 2025, Kummelholmen, Vårberg, Stockholm https://kummelholmen.se Photographer Anna Nyberg and Rein Matson

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