Title: UNBROKEN HORIZON - WALKING TERRITORY

Date: June 8, 2024

Duration: Fullday 

Location: Arholma

Meet up: 10.30 Simpnäs harbor

Departure: 10.40 boat from Simpnäs

Departure fr Arholma: 17.15

Arrival Simpnäs: 17.30

Pre event: Campfire dinner session June 7th at BKN.

Program:

Up on arrival we move to east shore and from there to north shore and back down to southern parts. 

Arholma is to large extent a nature preserve with unique flora and fauna. The island holds areas wth remains of defense system. As we walk we talk about territorial rights and territorial justice as well as continue to unfold "Spaces of Anticipation". 

This wallk was selected for its secludedness and closeness to water with great views of the unbroken horizon. Its embedded in the week of Swedish National day which brings up aspects such as migration, landrights, etc. Natives names reappear and rivers gets rights. On a personal level - seeing the horizon for a moment the existence makes sense.

The is was the first walk with out any artistic interventions. The walkers were asked to ponder up on "Spaces of Anticipation" Phrases from field notes are from the walking group coments during the walk.

Paricpating WAP artists

Shi Tou (ch)

Ming Ming (ch)

John Schuerman (us)

Ami Skånberg (se)

Anna Viola Hallberg (se)

Participating Curators/Scholars:

Helen Hedensjö (se), Marina Pugina (ru)

Local participants:

Eva Larsson (artist from Björkö/Stockholm)

Instigator PP JUNE 8: Anna Viola Hallberg

JUNE EDITION

SHARE SESSION

HOW FAR CAN ONE SEE
The following formula is used to calculate the horizon distance on Earth. 

WHAT IS TERRITORY
One common preliminary distinction is between territory and land. Land is that part of the earth’s surface that is not covered by water. Territory is a political and geographic concept. It refers to the spatial area of jurisdictional authority.  >>>

CORE INFO

Walking artists: 8

Public walkers:2

Site: Arholma in Northern Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden

Date: Saturday June 8th 2024
Duration: @7 hours

Weather: Mixed sun/rain wind strong gusts, temp @10-12 c. Rain stops made the tempo to be 1 km/hour including stopps. WAP normally moves with 2-3 km/h including intervention stops and lunch.

Start: 10:05 Simpnäs

Ferry to Arholma (15 min each direction)

Arrival: 17:30 Simpnäs

Other: no injuries + see field notes

Public Transportation to Simpnäs. Return trip by car.

UNPACKING SPACES OF ANTICIPATION 

Issue 36 of On Curating (2012) unfolded Spaces of Anticipation, outlined by artist and curator Lorenzo Sandoval and curator Emanuele Guidi. For WAP we selected to investigate spaces of anticipation prior to knowig about the above project. Our point of departure came from a workshop we did as BERG DUO in april 2023 by the name Walking is Also Space. From there we decided to establish the WAP/Walking As Practice program and continue to expand on the findings of the workshop. It resulted in two themes WAP2023 Attentative Walking and WAP24 Spaces of Anticipation. Futher reading on this in a forth coming Anthology on (TITLE to be inserted).

 Below some exerpts from 2012 issue 36, On Curating:

“the landscape of your word is the world’s landscape. But its frontier is open.” Édouard Glissant

"a notion and a constellation of practices—Anticipation—that seem to ofer the opportunity to discuss current and future conditions of production within artistic and cultural ields in all their complexities. A notion that we borrowed from a statement by Claire Bishop exactly because, as she frames it, “we seem to be in a period of anticipation.” We felt a certain closeness to this question and a hesitation in terms of the potential it could hold, especially back in 2014 when we started this research and when the echoes of various squares and movements (from Tahrir Square to 15M and Occupy) were still resonat- ing. hey were calling for a diferent kind of responsibility, exactly because of the way those movements were rehearsing diferent modes of constituting we’s. hese events were especially interesting for us in terms of spatial organizations—may the seminal image of the square and its capacity of a distributed voice serve as an example. he notion of anticipation turned out to be even more exemplary, calling as a way to navigate within the current political drift, when the “we” is exploited in identitarian terms by extreme-right discourses. he request for a communal entity that is perma- nently questioned and dissolved, as for example proposed by Jean-Luc Nancy, 5 became a new urgency."

"the understanding of anticipation as a constellation of practices, gained a great deal of inluence. When Walter Benjamin laid out the notion of “constellation,” he argued this as a discussion of representation: “Ideas are to objects as constellations are to stars.”

Full text from On Curating >>>

Field Notes /text to be edited/

Even if some of the participants had been to Arholma before we managed to introduce a new walk. The rain hit us hard already as we reached the southen point of our trail along  the west coast prior to heading a cross the island. We took shelter in a former boat house now a small open air museum.

As the heavy rain became drizzles we decided to cross the island. Here the landscape is open fields/farmland and we managed to get across before the rain hit us again. We contined to walk and got a bit damp and at the Memorial Site we took shelter in the chapel, a struckture reminding of an upside down boat on high pillars and a bell to toll for the dead. Note worthy is that this site is a non domination cemetary/memorial grove (something that is rare in Sweden). At this location we gained one walker.

The rain stoped almost immediately and we could exlplore the site and its seven circles that constitures the site where ashes are spread. We contined down to to the waterfront where had lunch on top of a former military bunker now transformed into an observetion deck, the central piece is a large compassrose with a bench around it. Perhaps it was the beauty and serentity of the site or an effort to show care at site of combat and death but all the sudden the walker spontaniously formed a massage line rubbing each others shoulders.

As we started out one of the curators decided to not contine due to health issues. The rest of us followed a narrow path along the coasline up to Stora Sandvidken. Here one artist just started to walk the bigger trail as we realized this we followed to catch up. At this point the rain was again heavier and we got soakt and cold during  the brisk walk accross towards the western side to reach Arholma Nord now a hostel and restaurant and the site for the wedding formery a military base. As we reach it the wedding arrangements were going on and the restaurant was open only for the guests.

We lingered for a bit considered taking a dip but we were so cold and damp that it was not really an option. Here the taller walkers went ahead of the rest of us. The rest of the group encounterd a strange small red structure and were puzzled by its function. We came up with nothing. Continueing as we were drying we sang Chines, Russian and Swedish walking-songs and by the time we caught up with the other two we were dry and close to the ferry were we joined up with the artist that shortened her walk. It was not enough time to go explore the southern part of the island but a long wait for the ferry.

Next visit to Arholma the southern section will be explored. A person we met just by the church mentioned that there are not so many trails south but for sure worth visiting. 

Instigator WALK JUNE 8: Anna Viola Hallberg

Arholma is an island in the northeastern part of the Stockholm archipelago in Norrtälje Municipality. It is 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) long by 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide. It is the northernmost island in the archipelago before the Sea of Åland. The island is characterised by a picturesque combination of traditional wooden buildings, farmland, forests and rocky shorelines.

The island rose from the sea during the Stone Age and now reaches a maximum height of 25 metres (82 ft) above sea level. It is mentioned in the 13th century sailing route of King Valdemar, which describes a passage through the archipelago past Åland to Estonia (then occupied by the Danes).

The island's highest point was formerly occupied by a coal-fired lighthouse, which was replaced by the present red-and-white structure in the 18th century. The construction of the current lighthouse, which stands 16 metres (52 ft) high and 8 metres (26 ft), was completed in 1768. It was partly built from stones retrieved from the ruins of Lidö Castle, destroyed in the Russian Pillage of 1719-1721, which also badly affected Arholma. The lighthouse is visible from a distance of 15 nautical miles (28 km) and is now a listed building; the interior is used as an art gallery during the summer.

Arholma's inhabitants hunted, farmed and fished before piloting became one of their principal sources of income. The islanders soon became wealthy ship-owners and sailors, putting their earnings into constructing bigger and better farms. During the winter months they anchored their vessels at Arholma's principal harbour, Österhamn, which was built during the island's peak of prosperity in the late 19th century. When the shipping trade began to decline, a number of Arholma farmers converted their residences into pensions and the island became extremely popular with holidaymakers.^]

During the 1930s, Arholma became part of Havsbandslinjen (Marine Band Line), a chain of fortifications constructed to protect the sea approaches to Stockholm. A 10.5 cm coastal battery was constructed on the north end of the island. The Arholma norra fort, which housed the battery, was completed in 1968 and could accommodate a garrison of 110 men. It operated in conjunction with another battery on the nearby island of Ovenskär, collectively comprising the Arholma battery. It was decommissioned in the 1990s and opened to the public in 2008 as a museum and national monument under the management of three local associations. (wiki)