PLEASE DRINK ME

Trollhättan Art Hall 2025

What does it mean to give of your soul as an artist, as a person? Can you give something to someone else if you have lost your own boundaries, or do you just give away guilt then?

Lewis Hyde wrote that the gift must always be in motion, in a circulation where everyone both receives and gives. This is the movement I seek in my latest work, where I both give and demand at the edge of discomfort.

During an open collective exhibition at Trollhättan Art Hall I invited people to drink my soul through a drop of blood from my finger. They were given a glass of water with one drop of blood in each glass. I had prepared with blood sampling equipment from a nurse and asked a doctor about the risks of spreading diseases, in case I carried something I was unaware of.

Despite there being no risks, many people found the idea repulsive, but they also found themselves surprised by their own strong reaction.

In the end of the performance, an artist I know challenged me with the same request. I found myself reacting with the same repulsion. But of course I needed to try, and we drank each other's souls.

Unfortunately there was also a small child who fainted on this occasion, at the sight of my blood.

Photos by Åsa Johansson