Residues (Kanazawa)
2000/2018
Performance documentation, diary notes, two slide projectors (loop).
Residues (Kanazawa) revisits fragments of an early performance conducted by the artist during his studies in Kanazawa, Japan. The town’s historical setting, with its many gardens and ancient shrines, became the stage for a series of interventions, or residues, in public spaces. In the double slide projection, photos of the artist painting the nipples of a sculpture in a hot pink colour are accompanied by diary entries that describes the night’s verdure, scents and sounds.
At the turn of the millennium, sexual and gender minorities, and even premarital sex, were widely questioned in Japan. Parks offered a clandestine venue for nocturnal lovers while providing a safe space for marginalized communities. The park in Kanazawa is a sanctuary twice over: by day, a temple garden, and by night, a place for cruising. The act of cruising—the coded search for brief erotic encounters in public spaces—is a fundamental part of queer culture, but has since the early 2000s rapidly transitioned into new forms with the emergence of dating apps.
Karlsson Lundgren’s artwork portrays the events of that particular night and how parks can become temporary spaces for intimacy. A time capsule of an alternative refuge and of ever evolving sexual practices.