Good/bad/beautiful day

Tomorrow I'm off to London! I'm quite excited to go home for a few days and see my friends. I had today off as well, and it was overall a nice day, but as always, not without its ups and downs.

The good news - I went to SEB and managed to open a bank account! Now that I've got into the banking system here I have to say I find it absolutely bizarre. In fact, whilst many things here are not what I'm used to, this is the first thing I've found completely impossible to understand.

First off, I was confused by the fact that the nearest branch to me in Globen was only open for 3 hours every day. Nevertheless, off I went, and when I explained that I just want to receive my wages and pay my rent the nice man at the bank asked me how I'd get the rent money into my new bank account. I said I would get it from the ATM and put it in the account so the payment could be made, which seemed fairly obvious. He then told me that only one branch in Stockholm handles cash! But it's a bank!

Anyway, the one and only branch that handles cash is in Sergels Torg, and as I had planned to go to an exhibition at Kulturhuset anyway it was no bother really to go there as well so I opened the account. Incidentally, the nice man told me that his best friend is English and he thinks it's sad how much foreign people struggle here. He told me to keep aiming for that personnummer and things will be much easier. It's nice to know that the average Swedish person agrees that things are unreasonably difficult for those who had the misfortune to be born abroad.

The other odd thing about banking in Sweden is that there is no standard system for generating account numbers. Each bank has their own system. I was wondering why my landlord's bank account number is twice as long as mine, and upon googling how the number should look I found that every bank has their own system. You might get to understand what your own bank does, but for other banks it's guesswork. I find this completely baffling. 

Then my day took a turn for the worse. I went to Sergels Torg, and knowing that the maximum amount you can withdraw from an ATM is 2000kr, I planned to use an ATM a few times to get enough for my rent, and a bit extra for when my bank card arrives. It should be here once I get back from London. Sadly it was not to be. It seems 2000kr is the maximum I can take per day, maybe partly because I'm withdrawing from an overseas account. So I never actually got to the Sergels Torg branch, and still had to pay my rent with ridiculous fees from my UK account. My war with them about the fees is ongoing, but at least now my wages will come into my Swedish account and I can save a little more. It's still frustrating, but I know I've made a small amount of progress.

I felt sorry for myself for a bit, and then went on to Kulturhuset. I have to say I really like it there, and really enjoy their exhibitions. I'm also able to see exhibitions there for free - I'm 25 years old, and those aged 25 and under go for free. I happen to look a bit younger than I really am, and every time I've told staff I'm 25 and asked to go in for free they've never asked for proof, so I'm probably going to be 25 years old for a while.

The current show is called "Asylum", and exhibits both art and fashion pieces. The theme seems fairly tentative in places, but there's a lot of interesting work there, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the mix of contemporary and older work, and there was work from less famous names, but also artists such as Salvador Dali. It's a really mixed show. The media is also very mixed - film, fashion, and sculpture. It's pretty broad so I think most people could take something from it, and for this reason I would recommend it.

After seeing the show I had some time to kill before going to the pub, so I went to the library and looked at the art section. I hadn't looked at this before, but I thought it was great. They have books in a variety of languages, there are comfortable places to sit, and they have a good range of books on art, fashion, photography, and design. I spent a while flicking through a really nice book about shoe design, it was quiet and peaceful, and I recommend it as a place to fill a bit of time.

So apart from one blip I had a pleasant day off work, and I'm looking forward to going on holiday tomorrow. It's getting late and I still need to pack my suitcase!

Louise Bourgeois at Moderna Museet

Today was a very exciting day because I finally went to the Louise Bourgeois exhibition at Moderna Museet. I've been looking forward to this since I found out about it last September, and although it's been on for two weeks I waited until today because I planned to see it with some others. It was definitely worth the wait!
The artist is one I find very interesting, and I'm able to draw inspiration quite a lot from her work. There was a huge amount of work in the show, and I think it's an exhibition you could happily see more than once. What I've always really liked about Louise Bourgeois is that her work spans across a lot of disciplines and media, but with a common theme bringing it all together, and I really admire such versatility.
Her versatility is really evident in this show, and featured some methods that I'd not even seen from her before, which just impressed upon me even more the variety within her work. I really feel that anyone could see this show and find something that they like.

The last exhibition at Moderna Museet, Skulptur Efter Skulptur, was quite minimal, and I hoped that this would not be the case with this show. Louise Bourgeois' work comes across as so rich and deep, so I'm not sure a very small show would work. I feel like her work needs to be emphasised, and thankfully this was quite a large show. We didn't even look at the permanent collection and were still at the gallery for a couple of hours. Walls had been set up within the room so that you kind of moved in a spiral, and it gave the impression of getting further into the artist's psyche. As her work is intimate, and at times explicit, this seemed to make sense with it. The show felt kind of intense, but I think that really worked well. Once again, Moderna Museet has not disappointed me.

The other really cool thing about my day was the people I went to the exhibition with. I found a group for female artists and creatives in Stockholm, which was only established fairly recently, and it was so nice to meet other creative people here. Obviously it's important to make like-minded friends, but there was also a lot of discussion about formally setting up some kind of creative collective, actively arranging group shows here together, and looking for opportunities. Networking is such a big thing in Stockholm, so I've really been aiming to meet other artists and creative people, especially because I'm new here and there must be so many people with much more experience within art in Stockholm, and Sweden as a whole. Even though there were only a few of us there today we already found some parallels between the work that we make, even if our mediums differ. That's cool in itself as we are from different countries and backgrounds, but still have common concerns that transcend that.
Everyone seemed to be equally motivated to search for opportunities together, and I'm really looking forward to hanging out with these people again and hopefully developing our ideas a bit more. Seeing as there are several nationalities involved we may even be having international touring exhibitions before you know it! I'm really happy I met these people, and I hope that the ideas we talked about today get pushed forward. I feel like this was a big step in the right direction in terms of developing my career here, plus I got to see an amazing exhibition. So all in all it's been a very successful day, and it's just a shame that the weekend is pretty much over!

An excellent 24 hours

Woohoo! The past 24 hours have been really good for me, but the biggest piece of news - I got the job! I start on Monday, and it's such a relief because this means that the biggest obstacle has been surpassed, and everything should get a bit easier from now on. Since going to Bazaren I've been feeling a bit more negative - there seemed to be an implication from some sides that Swedish people don't trust foreign people to do the job properly, and this worried me a bit, but now I feel so much better.
I'm sensible enough to realise that things will not automatically be easy from now on, but this does make a big difference. I now qualify for a personnummer, and can start looking for a place for us to live. I could have started that previously, but I do understand that not many people will be keen to rent to a couple who've just turned up and have no steady income. Kai is still looking, but having one decent income between us takes the pressure off a bit.The most important thing is that finding this job enables us to stay in Stockholm. After reading about so many negative experiences I did worry that eventually we'd run out of options. I would absolutely hate to have to go back to England, so I'm really relieved. I realise this is just a start for us, but hopefully it's a good sign for our future. I do feel more confident now that we'll be able to build a successful life here.

In my time job hunting I've noticed that Swedish people/companies are extremely friendly and positive in comparison to England - even rejection emails are so pleasant that you almost don't mind! I'm going to be working via a recruitment company, and the two welcome emails that they sent to me were so enthusiastic and friendly that I already feel comfortable working with them. The two staff members I've been in contact with have also both been so helpful and nice. So far this experience has been really positive, so hopefully the job will also be a good experience for me.

On a different subject, the past 24 hours have also been really good for getting involved in art related things here, which as I mentioned is a massive priority for me. We were going to a private view last night at Platform Stockholm, and at the last minute I found out that there was another private view at Färgfabriken, which is just next door. We went to Färgfabriken first, and there were a couple of different shows there. The show that the PV was for was related to the fragmentation and "development" of urban spaces, and in particular we watched a really interesting film about Beirut, and the privatisation of the sea. This was a brand new concept to me, and something that I didn't even realise was possible. I was thinking about it for a long time after we left, and it was striking to see the perspectives of people in Beirut, and the changes that they had observed.
There was also an exhibition of sculptures by Julia Bondesson, and I enjoyed these even more. Each piece seemed to have its own character, these dead pieces of wood seemed to be so expressive. The rough way that the pieces were carved gave them a really interesting appearance. Each piece was very well made - they were rough but simultaneously refined.
I also really liked the way that the exhibition was set out - each individual work was presented in a unique way. Perhaps this factor helped to bring personality to the pieces. I enjoy exhibitions that are experimental in their presentation.
Next we went to Platform Stockholm, where the show concerned the themes of the body, loss, and artificiality. There were some abstract paintings I really liked that to me suggested bodily fluids. I think this is really interesting, as I think most people would associate bodily loss with amputation. 
I really liked the space at Platform Stockholm - I could see my work in that space. I'm really keen to see more shows there and see other possibilities for how the space can work.

Today I went to Kultuhuset to see work by Katrine Helmersson, which I really enjoyed. There were a lot of abstracted images of the body and body parts - I work mainly in portraiture, recently mainly images of body parts, so this was very interesting to me. The style was totally different from my own work, but I appreciate being able to see an alternative perspective. I'm also very into texture, and this show includes a variety of materials and textures, as well as some textile pieces, which are also of particular interest to me. The information about the exhibition mentions the work alluding to themes from Kristeva and Lacan, both of whom I studied in the last year of my degree. Having some understanding of this made the show even more interesting. I was not familiar with the artist before today, but now I'd be keen to see more of her work. 
So it's been a good 24 hours for me, and my only complaint is that many galleries in Stockholm seem to stay shut for extended periods of time. Or maybe I should take that as a positive that there are still so many exhibitions and spaces yet to discover.

Progress this week

Although I'm still without a solid job I feel like I've been making some progress in the past couple of weeks. Maybe my job hunting skills are improving, but I've found some more suitable options to apply for, and I feel optimistic that something will come up. I think it's easy to feel negative, and seeing people describe their difficult experiences with job hunting here on forums etc is not very encouraging. I'm doing my best to keep in mind that although those experiences are totally valid and good to be aware of, there are also non-Swedish people who come here and succeed, but they're less likely to be discussing it online. I remember when I lived in Turku I saw many discussions about the attitudes of Finnish people that were so different to my own experience, so I've learned to have a balanced view. Generally I think a positive attitude helps anyway.
The other encouraging thing is that I had another job interview earlier this morning! It turns out that my previous post, which mentioned a job I interviewed for being re-advertised, was actually incorrect. Sure enough, a day later the recruitment agency called to let me know I had not been successful, but they also told me that an almost identical job was available in a different department of the same organisation, and asked if I'd like to apply for that one instead. Obviously I said yes, was called for an interview again, and I feel that things went much better for me today. As I'd been there before and already met two of the interviewers I felt more comfortable. Last time it really threw me because the questions they asked were not what I had been expecting from an interview here, and it was nothing like an interview in England either. As I knew what they were likely to ask I thought about it more this time, and definitely feel like I was better prepared. I don't want to make assumptions or get my hopes up, but I feel far more optimistic than I did after my last interview.
After that I met Kai and we went to Bazaren job fair in Kulturhuset, which was actually a bit of a disappointment. I thought it was going to be a lot bigger than it actually was, and their website mentioned that it was possible to apply for jobs there and then. However, the only jobs that seemed to be available were sales jobs, and a lady from one of the stands who we were talking to even told us that mainly sales jobs were being offered at the fair. I've worked in sales previously, but it's not something I enjoy or want to do again.
Bazaren was advertised as helping non-Swedish people find work here, so we thought there would probably be employers working in other languages. This didn't seem to be the case at all - I noticed one single stand actively looking for English speaking people, Kai has very little knowledge of Swedish and was quite confused about why everything was in Swedish. Although my ability is more advanced, and I know I'm getting better and growing in confidence, I don't feel able to work in Swedish yet, which I know puts me at a disadvantage, and this also meant there wasn't much for me there. I also thought that the emphasis would be on employers rather than training or mentoring services, but this wasn't the case either.
That being said, we spoke to one recruitment agency and the lady working there was really positive, it's definitely something for me to look into. A couple of other people there also gave us suggestions of things to look into, so I do feel that we've come away with a few more options. However, generally I'd say that Bazaren was unfortunately not for me.
The other positive news is that I've got involved with a newly established advertising and branding agency. Unfortunately they're not yet able to offer paid employment, but I'm able to do some voluntary work with them, with the aim being that when there is a regular revenue this will turn into full time employment for all staff. That's still some time into the future, but until then the amount of work they expect is really manageable. This would also give me a chance to do something creative, and maybe move into a more creative day job in the future. I had a really positive conversation with the director and we're arranging a meeting. The previous job I mentioned within media may also still be an option a couple of months from now, depending on what they're doing and what I'm doing.
This week I've also started to look more into art opportunities and spaces in Stockholm. Whilst I need a stable job and income, I also really want to continue concentrating on developing my art career. That's the most important thing - the stable day job is just to enable me to do that, and hopefully will no longer be needed one day. I've found some cool small spaces that I'm keen to explore - Kai and I are planning a little wander to visit various exhibitions tomorrow, and we are actually going to a private view tonight. I hope this will be a good opportunity to meet new people who are involved with art here. I'm used to having a lot of friends and contacts within contemporary art in London, and I'd really like to have that here too.
The other exciting news is that I arranged to volunteer at Supermarket, Stockholm's international art fair, in April of this year! I'm really exciting to get first-hand experience of how exhibitions work in this country. It's a while into the future, but hopefully it'll give me another chance to meet people who are involved with art here, and get some more connections. I'm starting to feel like I'm making progress and have some options here. We've still got a long way to go before we're totally stable, I'm sure there are problems to come, but we'll get there.

Moderna Museet

We had a really nice day yesterday. As my boyfriend, Kai, and I are both currently putting a lot of effort into job hunting I feel like we could easily get bogged down worrying about the future, so I feel like it's really important for us to also get out and enjoy ourselves, so we remember why we actually came here in the first place.

First we met Kai's friend Eddie for lunch. Eddie gave me a lot of help when I was last year, and has been a very good friend to both of us. We went for lunch at Waan Thai, opposite Sankt Eriksplan station - when I was here in September this restaurant quickly became my favourite restaurant in Stockholm. My only complaint is that the amount of food they serve is ridiculously large!

After that we went to Moderna Museet, which is a gallery I highly recommend to anyone either living in Stockholm or visiting here. I went there when I came for a visit in June last year, and absolutely loved it. It's located on Skeppsholmen, a very beautiful island in the center of Stockholm. It's very green, with lovely views of Södermalm, and is very peaceful. Last time it was in this area I noticed that you can be in the center of Stockholm but it can still be tranquil and quiet, which is such a huge contrast to London!

The current exhibition is on post-modern sculpture, and I really enjoyed it. This show takes up one room, and the way the work is laid out is great, because as well as being able to appreciate each piece individually you can also take a step back and look at everything at once, almost turning the entire room into one giant piece of art.

Another thing I found was that the permanent collection is rotated - although there were some pieces I saw during my previous visit, there were also pieces that were not there last time. I really think this is a positive thing - it can be a bit disappointing to visit a gallery and find there's only one room of new work, especially if there's an entrance fee. 

As well as having work by artists who are well-known throughout the world, such as Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jackson Pollock, Moderna Museet also has work by a large number of Swedish and Nordic artists who perhaps I would not have heard about otherwise. Yesterday I noticed a painting by a Danish artist, Harald Giersing, who I had not heard of before, but whose work I'm keen to look into further. 

In the piece I saw, and also in some of his other paintings that I've since looked at, I can see where the artist started to paint but then changed his mind and worked over it, which is something very relevant to my own drawings at the moment, as I'm working with building up layers, smudging mistakes and working over them. If and when I move back to concentrating on painting I think I could draw on his work even more. Thanks Moderna Museet!

Next month there will be a new exhibition of work by Louise Bourgeois, an artist who is a particular favourite of mine because of her use of textiles. I picked up a flyer yesterday, and some of the work that will be shown has never been publicly shown before, which is quite exciting. On Fridays after 6pm you can also go to the museum for free, which will probably be quite convenient once I'm working.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the new show next month, and to many more trips to Moderna Museet in the future.

Remembering why I'm here

The weather is beautiful in Stockholm at the moment, and also the difficulties earlier this week I thought that I should spend some time actually enjoying being here. Yesterday morning someone else contacted me about a job opportunity, so I now have two meetings arranged for the next few days. After that I decided to let myself relax a little bit and remember why I decided to come here.
The website for Time Out Stockholm very helpful advised that a lot of art related stuff is in the area around Sankt Eriksplan, so off I went. It's really important to me to find art galleries and art related activity here, as this is such a significant part of my life. I had planned to visit a specific gallery, somehow failed to find it, but managed to find a large number of contemporary, commercial galleries instead. I visited a few of them, and was really pleased.
When I lived in Finland I particularly liked that I became exposed to work by Finnish artists who I may never have encountered otherwise, and it's the same case here - most of the work was by Swedish artists who I probably would not have seen in England. I saw some excellent paintings, and also some very beautiful and tactile work made using pressed leaves and flowers. The area actually reminded me quite a lot of Vyner Street or Cork Street in London. In London I regularly visit the commercial art galleries in Mayfair, so it's great for me to have found a similar area in Stockholm. Sankt Eriksplan is definitely an area I'm keen to return to regularly.
After visiting the galleries I also found some really interesting shops in the area. Stockholm Retro was really cool, with lots of crockery, ornaments, and textiles from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The prices were also pretty cheap, so I can see myself visiting that shop again when I need to buy homeware items. I also found a chocolate and liquorice shop. I'm not that into liquorice but I definitely like chocolate, so that's another shop I'm keen to return to. I'm looking forward to exploring this area more in the future.
Doing this really improved my mood, and reminded me of why I came here. Trying to find work and housing, and being separated from my boyfriend, means I've been a bit bogged down and feeling a bit negative. The job side of things is looking fairly positive for now, and although the housing situation here is tremendously difficult, like nothing I've ever experienced before, there are a couple of options with that too. I have a plan B, which is starting to look more and more appealing, and like a more sensible option. Plan B should become clearer later today, and then I can consider my options much more seriously.
I expected finding a job to be the bigger challenge, as I'm still learning to speak Swedish, but this is really not the case. I knew before I came here that there were bound to be difficulties with housing, but coming here has made me realise how bad the situation is.