Type of work: Performance by Joanna Thede and Ia Neumüller, titled Blisterpartitur in Swedish

Length: Appr. 25 minutes

Content: More information is to be found after photos by Filippa Lilja

At the opening of Blister Sisters’ exhibition “Recollection: Patchworkers” at wip:sthlm, Ia Neumüller and Joanna Thede made the performance “Blisterpartitur” (Score of Blisters) to the sound piece “Magisk ramsa” (Magical Rhyme) by Leif Holmstrand.

The performance starts with the artists handing out lists of contents for medicines. The sound piece with the chanting of side effects, during which the two performers sewed threads with emptied blister packages between each other’s dresses. The performance ends with each artist cutting off the dress of the other person, leaving the dresses with their attached strings as a blister score on the floor.

Edition: 23 handmade unique pieces

Size: 23 x 23 cm

Information about the art work: The artist is collecting emptied blister packages since 10 years in an ongoing project called “Recollections”. A number of private persons as well as a few hospital wards spontaneously gather and donate used blister packages as recycled material for new art pieces.

“Blister squares” is a series of smaller pieces, which each can be put in a window – either hanging from the frame or standing on the ledge. Natural light shines through the holes where the pills used to be, thus turning the piece into a light installation, everchanging with the rhythm of the weather and the day and night outside.

“Patterns” is an artwork within the project Recollections, where the main material consists of collected and recycled emptied blister packages of medicines. The piece is a site-specific light installation using day light and transparency as its main features. Patterns consists of photographs of the artwork “Patchwork”, a handmade window blind of emptied blister packages sewn together by hand. The photos are printed onto adhesive plastic film and fastened onto the glass panes in the gallery space. Patterns is continually changing with the rhythms of day and night light, the weather conditions as well as the traffic outside in the foreground. The size of the piece is 800 x 210 x 10 cm.

Daylight photos by Helle Robertson
Day and night time documentation by Joanna Thede

Click here for short video of Patterns by day

Click here for short video of Patterns by night

The material is a huge amount of emptied medicine pill packages, donated by several generous collectors of which one is a nursing home for elders with dementia in Ängelholm. The blister packages are linked together with small metal loops.

Photos by Helle Robertson

Size: 103 x 81 cm

Content: The original art piece “Remedy for a Tree” was a site-specific artwork made for a specific tree in Slottsparken in Malmö. The piece was on display during the public outdoor exhibition Hidden Art / Dold Konst which was dedicated to the saving of trees. The exhibition ran through-out the summer of 2015 and included 120 artists from all over the world. In October 2015, parts of the exhibition continued to Tivoliparken/Sjöcronas park in Höganäs, north of Helsingborg. Within a week, Remedy for a Tree disappeared and its whereabouts still remains hidden.

The art work was made of emptied blister packages, donated by several people, and sewn by hand with nylon thread. Its perimeter was approximately 65 x 50 x 40 cm.

Size: 118 x 90 x 5 cm

Content: “Patchwork” is a site-specific art work made for the exhibition in molekyl gallery in Malmö in May 2015. With the exact measurements of one of the windows: 118 x 90 cm and a side of 5 cm, it fits into the light opening giving day light into the main gallery room. The material is emptied blister packages from medicines, donated by a number of persons. The piece is sewn by hand with nylon thread and fastened onto a frame of recycled wood.

Blister Sisters is a part of the series Recollections which is supported by The Swedish Arts Grant’s Committee.

***

3rd Workshop – June 17th @ Leif’s apartment in Malmö, Sweden

Present: Leif Holmstrand, Helle Robertsson, Ia Neümuller, and Joanna Thede

The third workshop of Blister Sister’s resulted in a lot of planning, coffee drinking and sewing. The art video “Recollection Collection” is made by Leif Holmstrand.

Photos from workshop 3:

Photo: Helle Robertson

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#2:

“IN AND OUT OF ORDER

aka

WHERE DID ALL THE SYRINGES END UP?”

2nd Workshop – June @ Leif’s studio in Malmö, Sweden

Present: Leif Holmstrand, Helle Robertsson, Ia Neümuller, and Joanna Thede

Images from workshop 2 below:

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#1:

“THE BLISS OF SPREADING HORMONES ALL OVER LEIF’S STUDIO

aka

WHAT THE DEPP DOES TO OUR NETHER PARTS”

1st Workshop – May 22nd @ Leif’s studio in Malmö, Sweden

Present: Leif Holmstrand, Helle Robertsson, Ia Neümuller, and Joanna Thede

Sound piece “Blistering number one” by Leif Holmstrand:

https://soundcloud.com/leif-holmstrand/blistering-number-one-by-blister-sisters

Images from workshop 1 below:

Size: 85 x 10 x 0,3 cm

“Recollection – 56 days” consists of several recycled medicine packs sewn together and coated on their printed text side with white paint. The long string is formed as a spiral from floor to wall.
The spiral becomes a counterpart to its own shadow, of which the edges let through the light of the small circular areas where the pills have been. The work draws a memory of a medicating period.

Light laboration for coming light installation