Travellers secret box Art and communicationproject

Originated and conceived by Danish artist Lars Vilhelmsen, Travellers Secret Box is an ongoing, collaborative, web-based project that was first set in motion in May of 2004. Lars’ continuing investigations into the synthesis of life and art have generated a project involving artists from all over Europe, each in their own way questioning and responding to the invisible divisions which persist between art and the existent, cultural identity and location, cultural practices and custom. Based on the premise that ‘art’ and ‘the art object’ is, in actuality, a non-elitist entity, these investigations seek to apprehend and make sense of a tangible, more visible coherence between the everyday (the existent) and art.

Drawing from the notions of travel and tourism as a trajectory, the box itself is a form of gesture, asking each artist to respond to and interact with it, eventually presenting their experiences and outcomes, both visually and in words. Through this collaboration, TSB seeks to locate and identify the invisible boundaries that exist in terms of social inclusion, the seemingly undetectable territories existent in terms of art and culture and the ever-shifting locality of identity. The box itself acts as a fellow traveller, allowing the artists to essentially crawl into, and, for a short time, inhabit the experiences of others’ cultural practices and custom; ‘the artist as a receiver of the box and the box as a fellow traveller.’

The box, by it’s very existence is identity-making, it’s physical form presenting a form of resistance and intervention, locating itself In spaces where its useless presence challenges the viewer to reflect and consider these ideas.

Structure

The project is divided into 2 elements:

1. Individual artists’ contribution / work with Travellers secret box

2. Communication and presentation of the work

Travellers secret box is offered to selected artists for a set period of time by the various Project Co-ordinators and in each case, the artists’ work will be documented and shown under the artists’ name on the website. Travel and exhibition opportunities/activities brought forth by the co-ordinators will also be documented and be shown on the website.

Questions that Lars wishes to be illuminated in each artists’ work are: the interpretation of attitudes relating to cultural heritage and patterns, habits, manners, places and spaces, as well as the private-personal issues surrounding psychosocial circumstances that are a result of their journey and experiences with the Travellers secret box..

History

The narrative for Travellers Secret Box has been that of appropriation, performance and intervention. Initiated in 2001, Travellers Secret Box - the private sense was first shown by Lars Vilhelmsen in the Tirstrup, Denmark Summer Exhibition, Janus Arthall 02. At that time the object was shown as packed. It was then shown unpacked twice the following year; in the spring exhibition, Charlottenburg as well as in Copenhagen. The act of unveiling and revealing placed the work in a new context, enabling it to evolve and now operate in others’ as yet unknown settings.

Material Facts

Material galvanized zinc

Height: 31 cm a

Length 37.5 cm

Width 12.5 cm

The concept and co-ordination of Travellers secret box is originated and formulated by Lars Vilhelmsen