MR GLOOM – a visual concert/bar session

Concept, script & costume: Carina Reich & Bogdan Szyber

Live action & bartender: Mattias Lech

Music & polar bear: Benjamin Quigley

Light design & penguin: Christoffer Lloyd

Place: The Great Exhibition/PJADAD, Lövholmsvägen 18, 15-17 November 2024

Mr Gloom – The darkness of the Nordic winter…

With its symbolic and evocative power, and its real connection with death and decay – like trees being defoliated, flowers dying – and that over all this darkness descends, “as in the grave”. There is a streak of gloom and despondency in Swedish culture and among enough Swedes to be able to mention this as a frequent feature expressed in music, poetry and visual art. And in the atmosphere where Swedes socialise without alcohol…

The work is based on older research by Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, and extracts from “Swedish mentality” by Åke Daun, “Man & the weather” by Artturi Similä, “The worst journey in the world” by Apsley Cherry-Garrard, “Weather diseases and air ions” by Bertil Flöistrup, “The seven visions of death” by Karin Boye, “The Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri, “How does thunder sound” by Johan Asplund and “A bad time” by Nancy Mitford.

The Nihilist Penguin

An electrically icy cocktail that numbs the senses and reflects a life without meaning, for when everything feels indifferent.

Ingredients: Vodka, Blue Curacao, Lemon juice, Soda water, Crushed ice, A dead twig for garnish.

Thanks to Petter Kukaćka, Per Eriksson, Tanja Holm, Hugo Håkansson, Frank Torsson Szyber, Gabriella Roos Redemo, Alex Hellid, Ekaterina Lukoshkova, Matthew D’Arcy, Turteatern, Wintercroft Design

With the support of the Swedish Arts Council, Region Stockholm & TGE/ The Great Exhibition