At first I thought I would leave the brown, plain suitcase surface like it was. So I started working on the interior parts – the pages – all the time keeping in mind the underlying motifs: life-as-a-travel and the art of packing your suitcase/living is to keep it simple and avoid carrying unnecessary, unimportant stuff that slows you down.

Nevertheless – suddenly – I felt the inclination to totally transform the outside of the suitcase. I wanted it to look like something that has been “on the road” for a long time… and carries a lot of experience and knowledge… so here it is after a total make-over…

More pictures here

Art-book-project on its way for “Fabricanti di Libri”, international art competition – thanks to Gulla and her Italian connections!

At our recent Malmö tour we agreed to do a collaborative book-art-project the round robin way. First step was Gulla finding and shipping this little cardboard suitcase to Lis. Yesterday Lis forwarded it on to me, but in her studio it had undertaken a significant transformation: the suitcase is now also a book! It has got pages!

I burst into laughter when I opened and discovered Lis in meditative trance! Truely an inspirational ground to build upon!

So what do I do now, to follow up on this terrific start? The stage is set, now I have to look build on the content: What to put in our suitcase… ? The question is cardinal whether we´re speaking of an ordinary, physical travel with a real suitcase – or looking at the situation from a mere metaphysical point of view, seeing the suitcase and the journey as metaphors on life and the mental “luggage” we carry along….

What is necessary? What is essential, vital – and what is superfluous, worthless, maybe even a stifling troublesome burden? What do we want to carry on – and what to get rid of on the journey of life?

(P.S. A question: Is Round Robin the right term when we are talking about three artists working on one and the same project that is sent back and forth? Or is the expression used only when more projects/ objects are circulating within the group???)