Oral presentation of the work on press meeting, opening and the exhibition Transport in Nordstan, Gothenburg 16 - 20 September 2000.
"Damn it! A ticket to Mallorca again." Part 2:
The work is performed in Gothenburg 16 - 20 September 2000.
"Damn it! A ticket to Mallorca again." Part 3:
The documentation of the work is placed at the Transport website at the end of October 2000.
"Damn it! A ticket to Mallorca again."
The driver of a car on a parking lot in Gothenburg notices that he or she has gotten a parking ticket. For what? He or she wonders and looks closer on the piece of paper, which is not a parking ticket but a ticket for a week's trip to Mallorca, hotel included, in two weeks time. Maybe the car owner will go on the trip. Maybe not. Different things can play a role in this decision. Does he or she like surprises. Does the car owner believe in angels? Does he or she live a life that allows for surprises? Maybe the car owner swaps the ticket for money. If he or she has heard of the burglar gang in the 70s who broke into people's apartments while these were on holiday on Mallorca, the car owner may not dare to go, or takes due action and goes on the trip thereafter.
To perform the "Damn it! A ticket to Mallorca again." three persons are needed. The coup is carried out secretly. Neither the press nor the exhibition visitors are to know when or where it is taking place. With the same carefullness as when a crime is outlined, the following plan is elaborated. The gangster steals from you and me, businesslike, organized and efficiently. Everywhere they work on conjuring up and inventing means to rob people of their lives and property. But the aim of "Damn it! A ticket to Mallorca again." is the opposite. An unexpected gift.
In the plan the persons are called A, B, C. Person A is me, Elin Wikström, B is a photographer and C i a driver. If the coup is successful on the first try, the action itself takes two days. Would anything go wrong, the action is repeated until the mission is completed. Furthermore is needed: One car, Two mobile phones, Three detailed maps of the town, a Paper pad and pen, 5000 Swedish crowns in cash, and possibly Masquerading garments and umbrellas, if it were to rain.
Day 1
The first day is devoted to research and preparations. A, B and C investigate parking lots and travel agencies and finally choose a parking lot and travel agency suitable for the enterprise. When all that is done with, person A is driven to the travel agency. A books a week's trip to Mallorca with hotel and all. The date of departure is two weeks after the coup. A informs the seller that the name of the traveller will be announced when the ticket is fetched the following day.
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A and B drive to the chosen parking lot slightly masked. A and B have mobile phones. A and B choose one of the parked cars and write down the registration number of the chosen car. To be be on the safe side 12 spare cars are also chosen, and even their registration numbers are written down. Then A calls the Police car register to find out the names and addresses of the car owners. C drives A to the travel agency. B stays and observes any possible action on the parking lot. A asks the seller to write out the ticket for the person who owns the chosen car, and pays. A and C drive quickly to the parking lot. A puts the ticket under one of the wipers of the chosen car and places the travel catalogue on the bonnet of the car.
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"Damn it! A ticket to Mallorca again." has earlier been performed in Linköping, Uppsala, Gävle and Tensta. The work toured in Sweden with the exhibition Det Extra arranged by Swedish Travelling Exhibitions (Riksutställningar). New in the performance in Gothenburg is that the photographer makes the same trip to Mallorca as the car owner, in order to check if the car owner goes on the trip or not. The documentation will be published on the Transport website.
Elin Wikström, Gothenburg, 2000