Suitcase Paintings

In May 2012 I proposed my project ”Suitcase Paintings”, where painting, context and the function of art was questioned by moving the painted object outside the gallery space. 10 paintings went traveling this summer, all to different locations and with different people.

This was the proposition:

Take a painting traveling! How does the content or our experience of a painting change in different contexts? Can the performativety of the piece appear differently outside the white box? Investigate with me and form a relationship with a painting trough traveling!

Here are the rules for participating:

1. Pick out a painting to take traveling and fill out a ‘Travel Card’. (Name, painting number and destinations). Pick it up from my New York studio, from now until June 1st.

2. Photograph it in your suitcase.

3. Take it to one or several destinations and photograph it.

4. Mail the painting and photos to (without cost) to

Anna Sörenson, Manhemsgatan 9, 126 52 Hägersten, SWEDEN

5. The paintings will reunite with the photos of their travel experience in a exhibition context.

With the collaborative project Suitcase Painting the outcome became an artist book, with graphic design by Christian Lindquist and an exhibition at WIP Konsthall 2013. Every one who collaborated is acknowledged in the book with their names, their destinations and their pictures. It felt important that the catalog was distributed for free, because it meant that it became something everybody could take home. My aim was to bring art to a space where everybody could access it, to be something my friends and I could share and experience together. 

Explore the pictures that the travelers send me!