Torggata Blad no. 2 – 2024, theme: war, peace and situationsism
Originally, this edition of Torggata Blad had war and peace as its theme, but it has ended up as a split issue that also includes situationist-relevant and related topics, as well as presentations and works by the Swedish artists Sara Granér, Charlotte Rodenstedt, and Thomas Costa Freté.
Rita Leppiniemi, who has been an important and versatile contributor to Torggata Blad for many years, has initiated the exhibition “Spektakel” at KREISGalerie in Nuremberg from October 25 to November 23. Together with Leppiniemi and the aforementioned artists, Torggata Blad has had the opportunity to present its activities – and the edition you are now holding – at the exhibition. This is also the reason why much of the magazine’s content is available in English – in addition to Norwegian, Swedish, and German.
The combination of war, peace, and situationism may not be as far-fetched as it first seems. This becomes clearer after reading Morten Jørgensen’s content-rich retrospective about the Danish and situationist-inspired theater group Solvognen’s aktioner.
Une Holden Vadstein, on the other hand, highlights a completely different form of theater in her critical review of Western states’ security policies – where the phenomenon of security theater is a central ingredient. The prioritization of security is supposedly intended to protect. But who is prioritized for protection and from whom, are questions raised in the article, while also pointing out how democratically determined laws and freedom of expression are now being set aside for “security reasons.”
In addition to articles related to the aforementioned exhibition and the original theme, the magazine, as usual, contains punk, prose, poetry, and pranks, as well as the presentation of five brand new products: Free Plastelina®, Peas for Peace, Memorial-Kit for Children Killed in War, an upgraded version of Victory Gin – now expanded with a cornucopia of a drink menu for protest activities and optimistic celebrations and a Adshel Street Furniture Cover Sewing Pattern.
Enjoy!
PS: Since few people these days know what situationism is, we asked the Artificial Intelligence app ChatGPT to explain it to us in a simple way:
Q: How would you explain situationism so that a ten-year-old can understand it?
A: Situationism is an idea about creating situations or experiences that make people think differently about the world around them. Imagine you and your friends decide to do something completely unexpected one day, like painting the sidewalk in all the colors of the rainbow or organizing a game in the schoolyard that no one has seen before. The goal is to make people stop, wonder, and maybe think about things in a new way.
The situationists believed that we often live our lives as if we are just following a recipe, without really questioning what we are doing. They wanted to break these habits and get people to experience the world in a new way, through art and surprising events. It’s about being creative and doing things that challenge what people expect, to make the world more fun and exciting!