First Day and Two Months in Sweden
Queue tickets, frames/15x10 each
2017
Every queue number I have used during my first two months of living in Sweden.
When I first told friends and coworkers that I'd be moving to Sweden people told me that I'd become familiar with the "Kölapp". Kölapp is the Swedish word for the little piece of paper which designates your place in a "virtual queue". The work documents every queue I've partaken in for my first months in Sweden. The culture of the queue is thoroughly ingrained into Swedish society and an outsider will quickly learn to conform to it while going about his or her daily business in Sweden. The system of documentation consists of merely keeping the little piece of paper bearing the "queue number", every time I've stood in queue. By doing so it forms a chronological diary of activities and purchases, such as going to the bank, interacting with the tax- or immigration office, waiting for the fishmonger at the supermarket or making photocopies at the library. It also explores how the public perceives and partakes in virtual or imaginary space, as the "queue" does not exist in physical space but is still an entrenched part of bureaucracy and bureaucratic procedure which almost anyone is familiar with. Taking a number is frequently the first interaction one has with larger power-structures when the need arises communicate with them in some manner. Assigning a number also provides an instant micro-hierarchy between the users which is understood by everyone using the system.
Photo from installation at Detroit Stockholm.