“Öyvind Fahlström was a Swedish artist who spent his childhood in Brazil, and died in the U.S.A. His World Map was painted in 1972, not long after Fuller imagined his utopia. Fahlström’s map recalls the Mercator projection: but the oceans have practically disappeared, the continents are crushed or swollen by the political pressures that the world-economy brings. Space overflows with clashes between the wealthy and the downtrodden, the CIA and the freedom-fighters, the capitalists, the communists, the revolutionaries. Fahlström was interested in resistance and excess: by which I mean politics plus overflowing subjectivity, figurative invention. For him, a map was a flat, rule-governed space for a strict social game; but it also was an open territory for imaginary play.”
From Cartography of Excess (Bureau d’études, Multiplicity) by Brian Holmes
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2 Comments
To whom it may concern:
You state that Öyvind died in the United States. This is incorrect. He died in Stockholm, Sweden on November 9, 1976. He was a permanent resident of the United States and his will was probated in Brooklyn Surrogates Court since his last home was in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn.
Please correct your data accordingly.
Cordially,
Sharon Avery-Fahlström
(Mrs. Öyvind Fahlström)
Thank you very much for this clarification.
The article cited above was written by Brian Holmes and published by Mute Magazine, so I’m afraid we cannot correct it. Perhaps you can contact them directly?