Art + Truck parties

Went to see the group show EnVar (One Each) at Kulturhuset with Liz. My collage Vykort från Stockholm (Postcards from Stockholm) is in the show. Kulturhuset is in the centre of the city, in the main square. It's the time of year when all the kids who've just graduated from high school are driven around town on the back of trucks, blaring music, dressed up, yelling, screaming, and partying.

We got to see many of these trucks drive by today, since the main square is their main destination. It was quite a sight. I watched with a mixture of amusement, joy, disgust, shock, and admiration. My favorite part about it is that the trucks are decked out with fresh new birch branches, Swedish flags, and yellow and blue balloons. The birch branches are tradition, and a detail that keeps the whole thing on the better side of the fine line between pleasing and ridiculous. Without those birch branches, things would be different. I would see it as a bunch of kids riding around in the back of trucks yelling and waving. Silly, easily dismissed. But with the branches it becomes festive, exciting, maybe even touching. The branches are new and fresh, the kids are new and fresh, and they're right at the very beginning, new leaves, not having encountered the storms, the messiness, the surprises of life.

A truck stops. Kids jump off and run into the fountain in the main square, dancing and singing and yelling and drinking. It's a spectacle. You can't tear your eyes away.