Hampus Pettersson is an artist living in Göteborg, specializing in
navigating the continual flow of multi-dimensional realities.

Books:

Ulysses, James Joyce (1922). With a narrative loosely based on Homer's
Odyssey, and spanning the course of the day of 16 June 1904, we follow
Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus in their wanderings around Dublin, and
with it through an endless repertoire of ideas, allusions, intellectual
disciplines and literary styles. James Joyce was obsessed with the idea of
finding the extraordinay in the everyday, ordinary and plain, and he
utilizes every technique at his disposal in order to make seemingly mundane
events unfold before the reader, revealing endless layers of meaning, all
through the use of some of the most innovative -and poetic- prose ever put
down on paper.

Rötter Smälter, Sara Hallström (2007). Awesome contemporary Swedish poetry.
There's something almost hypnagogic over the flow of words, images and
allusions, something rooted in "real" life and the waking state but at the
same time constantly shifting in tune with the subjective states evoked by
the prose. Not exactly dreamlike, it would be more correct to call
Hallströms work hyperreal, vague precision giving words to the most human of
emotions, to our desires and to our frustrations at not being able to fully
merge with either one another or with the world surrounding us.

"England's Dreaming", Jon Savage (1991). One of the most lucid and
intelligent portrayals of the Brittish Punk Rock phenomenon, this book
arrived 15 years after the event and became a handbook of sorts for me at
the time. The author, Jon Savage, had previously worked as a music
journalist for the magazine Melody Maker, and as such had covered the punk
scene as it unfolded (and later imploded). This first-hand, personal
experience serves him well as he both untangles the roots of punk rock
(taking in the student uprisings of 68, Situationist theory and the musical
precursors in New York) as well as portrays the cultural climate which
eventually provoked it into existance. Utterly readable and inspiring, this
book deftly presents all the aspirations, shortcomings, contradictions and
complexities of not only the punk movement itself, but of many of the
individuals involved in it as well. Get it, read it and Get It.

Other things to do in Göteborg:

Koloni's Måndagsklubb at Kafe Publik. Check out Kafe Publik on Andra
Långgatan 20 on select Mondays, when the club Koloni arranges concerts and
DJ-sets spanning the whole spectrum of experimental music. A nice place to
hang out and the admission is free! For info on shows, check out
www.myspace.com/kolonigbg

Gamlestan. This area, on the outskirts of Göteborg, has developed into a
fairly odd and exploration-friendly zone. The whole area is visually
dominated by the huge corporate SKF-building, a bizzarely incongruous slab
of massed concrete rising above the rather more quaint wooden houses which
otherwise characterize the area. There are some nice middle-eastern cafés
here, which specialize in a very sweet variety of pastry. The huge
flea-markets at Kviberg are definitely worth a visit, being one of the more
anarchic multi-cultural jumbles in the city. Also, try to find the huge
reflecting metal sphere sculpture, outside the old industrial brick
buildings by the riverfront. Looking like some kind of multi-dimensional
portal, it's certainly one of Göteborgs more interesting works of public
art!

Solsystemspromenad. Unbeknowest to most, there's acually a scale-model of
our solar system spread out over the southern parts of Göteborg. With a
yellow sphere representing the sun on the outer facade of Naturhistoriska
Museet in Slottskogen, a series of sculptures representing the planets are
placed in relation to it, giving one a much greater sense of the distances
involved than looking at any picture in a book ever will. A map showing the
placement of the "planets" is available in the reception at Naturhistoriska
Museet, and needless to say the walk itself is interesting enough as is,
taking in plenty of different environments. Pluto is pretty difficult to
find, being partially overgrown, but don't give up!