Unchained at Järnvågsplatsen

Unchained at Järnvågsplatsen is a site responsive performance that was perfumed in Brunnsparken, small park, central square and transportation hub in Göteborg Sweden.

I was wrapped in 75 feet of steel chain. This chain was be attached to two 50 lb jute bags of sugar. I dragged the bags and chain around Brunnsparken. After completing a lap of the park, I retrieved a heavy hammer and a cold chisel and began to break the chains that bound me and attached me to the sugar.

After several links of chain were broken and shattered, I plunged the chisel into the sacks of sugar. I emptied the sugar on the ground and covered the broken chains with it. Freed from the chains, I left the park. The broken chains, sugar and bags were left on the ground.

During the period of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Sweden provided chain to several European countries that enslaved people. In the location that is now Brunnsparken, there used to be an iron weighing scale. The main crop that enslaved people were producing during this period was sugar which was increasingly sold to various European countries. There used to be a sugar refinery Brunnsparken.

The performance happened June 8, 2019 as part of Live Action 14, a performance art festival curated by Jonas Stampe.