Vilhelmina 2008

16th of July. It seems ominous. The rain forces us to drive the car in second gear on the highway.
- What will happen with this year's 'Empty Spaces' project if it continues to rain like this? I want to swim and sunbath as well! Emma, who rides with us from Östersund to Vilhelmina , exclaims. But as we approach our destination, the clouds shatter and the sun appears. So it continues. As it happens, out of the whole of Sweden this summer, Vilhelmina gets the least amount of rain. Is this pure coincidence or has Eira's chant "Rain, Rain go away! Sun, Sun come to me!" influenced the skies?
I ponder a lot about "influence" during the summer. Perhaps due to me being this year's main organizer. How do I affect the project through my effort? Do I have a hidden agenda? Who influences me and how? Can Eira influence the wheather!?
People are working towards the exhibition in the courthouse. All of as sudden somebody has arranged for our access to this bewildering building. Some of us are working throughout the night. In a weeks time we have a show. When Saturday arrives we are done. Signs in three languages hangs all over the village. At the private view we serve canapés and wine to our fifty somewhat visitors.
We live in a five story council house, with glassed in balconies and a view over Lake Volg. I get the feeling of being at The French Riviera. I like Vilhelmina. It feels weird that so many choose to move away from here. Over the past decade the population has halved and it is mainly the young women seeking a life elsewhere.
One evening during a discussion around culture, Vilhelmina and life :) I think of how all situations and structures are interwoven. How culture genetically, does not consist of events or canvases, but rather the ideas and feelings that are circulated in a community. It crossed my mind that the production of culture comes about at the expense of the women in Vilhelmina, And I start to think of the people I have met here.
Christer Staaf, the Head of Culture that has invited us to Vilhelmina: the soft and kind father of four could come to be a role model for a more composite idea of what this community needs for the future.
Gunnel Blom, single, mother of three with three jobs, who gave us a ride both back and forth when we had ran out of gas while picking berries. Thanks! What if "Vilhelmina" could make better use of her drive, her willpower.
When I leave the village on the 15th of August, the giant specimen of the Scandinavian winter vehicle called a 'Kick-sled' that occupies the roof of the hotel catches my eye. The world's largest Kick-sled! A vision of the future Vilhelmina appears to me. A Kick-sled on all the roofs of Vilhelmina(!) I whisper to myself. That's something(!) Unforgettable(!)
On my way southwards on the highway I get that feeling of haven forgotten something, of not being finished.

/Magnus Oledal