Place as Matter
Rejmyre, Sweden Aug 8th-16th 2009
an interdisciplinary workshop exploring place as material

Jimin Park
jewelry
USA, Korea

jpark1231@gmail.com

Place as Matter - Rejmyre, Sweden 2009

Place matters. Understanding the place, Rejmyre, was at the core of my work here. Rejmyre has a multi-faceted characteristic; a once vibrant glass factory, a cafe run by the daughter of a glass worker, an antique shop, a bakery and so on.

My work is a documentation of observing Rejmyre from a third persons point of a view but simultaneously, stages of perceiving Rejmyre as an alive organic object. It introduces the audience to Rejmyre, which triggers creating their own Rejmyre in their mind without my voice.

I started with my first impression of the town, creating my own acquaintanceship with the site. The glass factory has become a fossil. The people in the town seemed to rely on the remnants of good days.

Increasing the whole sense of being a part of Rejmyre, the local people began to play an important role in my work. Not only the people are operating Reymyre, but also Reymyre itself is activating people who live in it. I could find it from the glass worker’s laugh, breeze from the wood and cinnamon smell from the bakery.

In my final project, I gathered broken glass pieces at the factory’s trash site and puzzled them together in a small secret room in the attic of the studio building. At the same time, I left a pile of gum for the glassworkers to chew, along with a receptacle for the chewed pieces and a written request for their asssistance in chewing the gum for me. I waited for them to be chewed and retrieved the results. Through these practices and actions,
I was attempting to make a comment on the current situation of Rejmyre. As time passed, however, I realized how littleI knew about this town and to question all my thoughts. Do I really know Rejmyre? The essence of Rejmyre is not easy to ascertain nor is it something I can determine. I realized I didn’t have any right to define Rejmyre, being there doesn’t mean belonging there.