Connecting during our global pandemic, Sonja Thomsen (American) & Thom Bridge (Swedish/British), used personal rock collections from Lake Michigan and the Jurassic Coast as source material to produce collage and video work. pool, 2020 was a collaborative photographic experiment by artists that generated digital collages, projection and sculptural work during the six months of the COVID pandemic. pool (51 x 91 cm—photographs, foil, glass and shelf) was shown at Edelman Gallery in Chicago. pool ii (4 minute video) was projected from a balcony at artist-run festival Balconnection in Izmir, Turkey. pool iii  (single channel video) was screened in London. pool iiii (saddle stitched artist zine) was published in 2021. Conceptually the duo is interested in exploring the weight of the geologic time embedded in the rocks that are their source material as well as the historic weight of our global pandemic and the radical joy that collaboration at that time represents.

Marking the five year anniversary of the pandemic, in 2025 the pair will present pool V, a week-long workshop in Milwaukee WI USA. Building on Bridge and Thomsen’s history of organizing, platforming and mentoring other artists, pool V will be their first iteration of a series of short international regional workshops connecting artists, researchers, citizens and our geographies transnationally.

pool V will take place in Milwaukee 2025 is a project supported by The Open Fund, through the Poor Farm with funding from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Ruth Foundation for the Arts.

Iterations of pool have been exhibited with exhibited with Balconnection project, Izmir TURKEY; Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago;