Guide by Numbers

In the middle of Gothenburg’s heart, there is a brand new public park. It is jammed in between the Police house, the District Court, the Arrest, two office buildings, Ullevi Arena, and on the ground of an old mass grave.

Marika Hedemyr will take you on a guided tour in this camera surveiled park that is still unnamed. Through statistics, occupancy, and exact numbers, the guide tells of present and absent bodies in this force field which has 6000 people overground, 15 000 people underground, 7 surveillance cameras, fifteen 200 year old trees that are 27 metres high, 1 105 windows towards the park, a grass lawn big as the size of half of a football pitch, where one half is public and the other is private.

Concept and idea: Marika Hedemyr
Script and guide: Marika Hedemyr
Produced by: Marika Hedemyr Projects
Presented at: Motbilder/Counterparts, an extensive art project and exhibition presented 22 August — 14 September 2014 in Göteborg, curated by Anna van der Vliet, ICIA
Premiere: August 2014

Reviews

“Marika Hedemyrs två guidade promenader är gratis men det är ändå biljettbokning som gäller, en formalism som verkligen också genomsyrar Guide by Numbers, en av konstnären ledd rundvandring på den lilla kommunala parkplätten vid polishuset och tingsrätten ovanpå den gamla garnisonskyrkogården och koleramassgraven: en i sin saklighet smått kuslig återgivning av siffror, proportioner, omständigheter och fakta som vidgar perspektivet i tid och rum, något som även gäller den hörlursguidade promenaden från Heaven 23 i Gothia Towers.”

— Mikael Olofsson, Göteborgs-Posten 1 Sept 2014