Grey Melange

In short:
Grey Melange is a B-home exhibition I made with graphic designer Antti Hiljá. The exhibition centered around the color and texture of melange gray. It was held in my late grandmother's home where I was a passing resident this spring. The exhibition lasted for one night. There were 14 physical guests. I moved away the day after the exhibition.

The idea for the exhibition was initiated one weekend in April while making mac and cheese with my friend Antti. He asked me what my favorite color was and we started talking about melange grey. It turned out we both had an intensive relationship with that casual color and decided to make something out of it together. We planned the show during two weeks, made the images and took off one day to realize it.

Some things that interested me on the theme / this project:
- the possibility of collaborating with Antti on a theme we both instantly linked with
- the ambivalence of the color and space combo
- making room and time for something and then doing something in that space you have made
- realizing a show in one day
- changing a domestic space into something else
- good old making something out of nothing
- having a good-bye party before moving out

Things we made for the exhibition:
- scanned clothes and photocopied them (4 x A3)
- collages from googled images
- digitally shoplifted at Vapaavalinta home supply store by photographing grey melange clothes
- a pile of our melange grey clothes
- recorded a scene from Rocky, the sporty montage scene with one arm push ups etc
- some drawings where the drawing hand imitates the texture of grey melange
- list of connotations

A thing I forgot to make:
- Recommended reading sign on a table with Gerhard Richter: Doubt and Belief in painting -book on it

Stress level while preparing the exhibition:
- Elina 4%
- Antti 0%

Stress level measurement on the day of the exhibition:
- Elina 56%
- Antti 89% *

All in all I am content with how the show came out and went. I was so happy that people showed up. It was interesting to hear their comments and musings on melange grey though I was nervous. There was a solid level of curiousity and puzzlement in the air. The Rocky vidoe seemed to be a favorite. Boys had a go at one hand pushups and other physically demanding pushup styles which was cool. Some dancing happened around the grey pile. All good.



Grey melange is an ocean of thought to dive into. I tried to write more about what it is in the color and texture of grey melange but my thoughts don't necessarily translate into language nor should they. It has to do with something that happens when you are looking at nothing and it starts to look like a body of something. Like you are contenting yourself with something that seems like not a lot. It makes you feel very priviliged.

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* Note: Antti's higher stress level could've been due to the fact that he had his club that same night

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See more images of the show in my Flickr.

Read more about the B-home project here.