Counter
2010 (w. Sébastien Berthier)
Five-digit counter, installation with 35 fluorescent lights, arduino board, programmed by: Michael Möller
140 x 360 cm
According to Statistiska Central Byrån (Statistics Sweden), in 2009 around 39242 of the registered population moved abroad. The installation is a five-digit counter made of fluorescent light bulbs that accumulates the number of this fraction of population. Every 13 minutes and 26 seconds, one unit is added which indicates one person is lessened from the Swedish population. The enlarged figure of public statistics gets a life of its own and subversively triggers the projected image of Sweden as one of the ultimate destinations of migration. Hinting on the emigrant crowd, the work refers to different temporalities in the present as well as the past; the trauma of losing one fourth of Swedish population in the late 1800 and early 1900, which among other reasons gave birth to the social welfare system, as a solution that the Swedish state could survive the castration of its population. The counter also refers to figures and statistics as means of abstraction of national identity and stages a semi-autonomous medium that consumes each registered resident as a number. The work can only be on display for a 365 days and after the counter reaches 39242 the counter will stop counting.
© 2007-2011 Shirin Sabahi
