I have been invited to participate in an exhibition in Copenhagen. It is to be in an ex-bodega in the district of Nørrebro. A bodega is used in the English language and is distinguished as being a cellar or shop selling wine and food, a store house for maturing wine. Along with the invitation I was sent images of the property.
I was developing work from London, responding to an email narrative and photography of a site. Bodega Hjorten was open during my last stay in Copenhagen but I had only heard of it and its elusive owners and customers from rumours.
Excerpt from email...
'The carpet sticky, with spills and stains. The walls heavy from smoke, eyes meet as entering "welcome". The Indian thrones on the wall. He looks like Sitting Bull. The many rooms, dark paneling, beating marks on the door. Everything witness what has been. Now the future is uncertain.'
Perhaps a lost visitor's description of an abandoned space with a romantic undertone. Then I turn to the stark iPhone photos of the space. I see the potential of it as a stage with the comical look of the Native Indian mural on the wall I see the space as a bare playground. Compared with the show at Sheik Shawarma, the establishment has closed up and only echoes of past activities remain. We were temporarily in charge of the space, the new hosts, creating a new home for strangers.