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Playing on the comical absurdity in our current reality, five Nordic artists combine their artistic practises to create a video project, which will function as a stand alone video installation including sound which will transform into a performance piece. 

Five artists - from the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland found each other through the Platform Gátt meet up in Reykjavík in November 2021. It was the curiosity for each other's artistic practices that sparked an interest in collaborating. The aim is to create an interdisciplinary piece of work where we wish to fully integrate the artistic practices of dance, music composition and film. The form that the project takes will be flexible and dynamic. Together we will work in a way that allows the body of work to exist in multiple constellations. The result will be a 28-minute-long video art installation which will include originally composed music and original choreography, that can be set up as a piece on its own, but can also be performed live. 

Interest and Theme

In the Faroe Islands as well as most of the Nordic countries, we take pride in our nature and living symbiotically with our surroundings. We market ourselves as unspoiled and untamed and find pride in our rich history told through sagas and myths. Meanwhile we are living in an increasingly modernised technological age - where social media rules and if you didn’t take a picture of your hike it didn’t happen. We wish to play with the comical absurdity in our current reality. Imagine the contrast between taking selfies of heavy drag inspired make up against the backdrop of wild waves breaking against cliffs. 

 

The project is female led and it will therefore be instinctively exploring our lived experiences of female identity in the Nordic countries. We want to suggest that these two following ideas are in a way the two contradicting standards and expectations one encounters by being female; the natural and pure and the superficial and materialistic. 

 

Inspired by myths, sagas and cultural images such as the Little Mermaid or the Seal Woman, we interpreted these icons into strong female characters with a twist of pop culture references. Emphasising the superficial through the use of makeup - we want to explore that which is inherently feminine in an over dramatised way. The feeling of being watched and judged constantly. Playing with gender roles and the expectations women face in our society - across national borders.

 

Method

Part of the project is to investigate how we can create and work within a flat power structure and see how that shapes the piece. In the First working period each of the artists had a sharing of their practise. This was done through workshops that related to the interest and theme. This then shaped the sound, video and movement material. 

 

The point of entrance for the sound will be to see the movements as layers of change and layers of twists that can be translated into music. Think of music as both sound and action. Likewise, the filming will be an integrated part of the choreography, in the pursuit of creating an immersive experience for the spectator. We will be investigating how this approach can create echo-layers both visually and in the soundscape, giving the work artistic density. 

 

The sound will be partly composed with a string quartet and partly through the audio recordings, made during the 1st working period, of the dancerand the sounds of the faroese nature. We will therefore be working with physicalised sounds using breath work as a way to embody the soundscape. The choreography will be inspired by the embodiment of the interplay between the natural and the artificial.

Connection Between the Nordic Countries

The project will be created and produced in the Faroe Islands and we will have our working space in the Nordic House of the Faroe Islands. The video work-in-progress will be exhibited at Reykjavík Arts Festival through Platform Gátt. The Performance piece will be shared at the Nordic House in the Faroe Islands and the official premiere will be at Koncertkirken in Copenhagen, with the aim of sharing the work in all the Nordic countries and globally.  We hope that this work can live on in exhibitions in all of the Nordic countries, as well as this work becoming a way to share contemporary Nordic art with the rest of the world. 

 

With this project we are seizing the initiative of nordic collaborations that were established by Platform Gátt. Thus, we are working on making the connections long lasting, which was one of the key goals for Platform Gátt. We see this as a crucial part in a sustainable Nordic art environment as we are developing and building on top of something that is in the beginning phase of being established. By doing so, we are utilising and making the most out of the time, energy, money and CO2 footprint already invested.          

JÖRÐ

As artists it is important to connect with other cultures and through that see new perspectives and to connect across borders gives us amazing opportunities to broaden our horizons. However, connecting between the nordic countries while living in an isolated archipelago can have its effects on our climate.
We are very interested in researching if it’s possible to be climate neutral while creating art across borders. Generally this is an area which requires more research - and with this project we wish to investigate what the climactic proportions are in this specific context.
Since it is necessary to fly to the faroes to be able for the artists to meet and create art here, would it be possible for us to create art in a more sustainable way while being here? Could this become the new standard of art production in the Faroe Islands?

Sustainability will be included in the project in the form of playing with the lines of nature and the materialistic - contrasting our technological age against the faroese nature. With this in mind we also wish to create a work environment with less impact on the climate. This could for example be with what equipment we use, choosing greener alternatives in the form of living standards, being aware of what materials we use when creating costumes and inviting nature into our performance. 

 

We are eager to work in a way that is as climate conscious as possible. Therefore we have agreed to become a case study for the Nordic initiative: Bæredygtige kulturoplevelser i Norden (Read more under ’Partners and support’). By taking part in this initiative we will register our usage and consumption in connection with this project as well as exchange and document experiences across the Nordic countries. We will also report on the possibilities and problems in connection with sustainable cultural production which we have encountered in all phases of our project. 

Sustainability

Extended Team

Core Artistic Team

Barbara Lervig (FO)

Photographer/Editor

Maibritt Marjunardóttir (FO)    

Lydia Vermaat-Wallin (SV)    

Costume designer

Gunn Hernes (NO/FO)

Consultant 

In house technician of the Nordic House (FO)

Technician

Inger Smærup Sørensen (DK/FO)

Bæredygtige kulturoplevelser i Norden

Heiðrun Petersen (FO) 

Mads Haugsted Hansen (DK)

 Daniel Eklund (SE) 

Lea Emilie Brøndal (DK)

Nordic String Quartet

Æsa Tróndardóttir Frýdal (FO) TBC 

Emilja Sonne Djurhuus (FO) TBC

Set designers

Búi Rouch (FO) TBC 

Dramaturg

Beinta á Torkilsheyggi (FO) TBC

Still photographer

Maria Guldbrandsø Tórgarð (FO)

Director/Editor and administrator 

Vár Bech Árting (FO)

Dance/Performing arts and administrator

Louise Pousette (SV)

Dance/Performing arts

Tiia Kasurinen (FI)

Dance/Performing arts

Lil Lacy (DK)

Music/Sound art

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Partners and Support

The Nordic House in the Faroe Islands

The project is receiving support from the Nordic House in the Faroe Islands. This will be in the form of facilitating work space and showing the work.

 

Platform Gátt

Five high profile multidisciplinary arts festivals and institutions in the Nordic region band together in Platform GÁTT, with the mission to bring together and highlight some of the most exciting young artists living and working in the Nordic countries.

Platform Gátt works as a support network in this regard, and gives us close connections to the art festivals.

 

Platform Gátt artists TAKE OVER KoncertKirken

In the autumn Gátt artists take over at KoncertKirken in Copenhagen. The idea came out of the Platform Gátt meeting in Iceland in November. The initiative for the event is by Lil Lacy, who is artist in residency at KoncertKirken in 2022. 

The event programs work from all the Plattform Gátt artists that want to be a part of this project and will be over a weekend starting on Friday evening till Sunday 11-13th of November 2022. It will be a small weekend festival and open for audiences to enjoy. What will be programmed reflects the variety of artists and expressions that Platform Gátt represents and will be a rich and exciting weekend of art at KoncertKirken.      

 

Bæredygtige kulturoplevelser i Norden

This is a project under Nordisk Ministerråd which focuses on green production and green consumption which will contribute to exchange of experience, dialogue and development of tools to create climate friendly cultural experiences. 

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Timeline 2022

15th of March - 24th of April Preparation

This time is set out for the artists to develop tasks and ideas to bring to the residency. 

Each artist will bring material and develop creative working tasks that will be the point of entrance when meeting. 

This time will also be spent location scouting. 

 

April 25th - May 2nd 1st research and development period

The days will be as followed: 

We will begin each day with a warm up, both for dancers to get ready physically for the day as well as to start thinking creatively and gather the energy.  

Then we will begin working on one of the tasks prepared prior to the working week. Investigating the potential and developing material.  

As we get further into the week we will spend more time recording and filming on location.  

 

3rd of May - 31st of July Reflection and editing

This time will be spent regrouping and going through the material produced. This will be in the form of editing the footage and sound recordings. We will start visioning the live aspect of the work and how to integrate it. 

11-13th of November KoncertKirken - Premier of the installation 

The installation will be up throughout the weekend.

30th of January - 10th of September 2nd research and creation period (Choerography)

The three dance artists Árting, Pousette and Kasurinen will be working at the Nordic House on developing the choreography for the performance.

The days will be as followed: 

We will begin each day with a warmup, both for dancers to get ready physically for the day as well as to start thinking creatively and gather the energy through sharing their individual artistic practices.   

The video and sound material gathered in the first research period will be the starting point for the development of the performance. 

27th of September - 29th of October 3rd working period and premiere of the performance piece

We will start to assemble the installation space and structure the footage in the space and integrating the performance into the audiovisual instalation.

The performance piece will premiere of the work at the Nordic House for the public.  

We will spend time evaluating the project. Furthermore, creating a plan for what we can look forward to in relation to JÖRÐ and the collaboration.

With this project we hope to create sustainable and long lasting connections between artists in the Nordic countries - across borders and across artistic practises and disciplines. We also wish to reflect on the possibility of creating climate friendly cultural experiences. Creating a final product which will be able to travel the world and continually make the viewer reflect, highlighting the female artistic perspective in our postmodern world. 

On behalf of the JÖRÐ collaboration,

Maria Tórgarð and Vár Bech Árting

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Letter of confirmation and support from Stering Groupthe Platform Gátt

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