For my digital ‘Representing a space’ project, the concept of representing one through movement immediately came to my mind on the digital part.
I wanted to create an unusual atmosphere through using my friend, Kathryn, as a means of representing the louvre. This entailed the different light circumstances as well as the different cultures and art medias. When it came to the choreography, I wanted her to have complete creative freedom over the movements of her body, her perception of the room as well as the works of art. Through this means of improvisation, she would become an artwork herself, exhibited in the Louvre.
I believe through the contrast of the non-moving statues and paintings, we also created a question of human representation in society through works of art. As we wandered through the whole of the museum, we became aware of the richness of minds and eras mirrored in this space, being quite overwhelmed with the beauty and intensity. As means of capture the scene, we used a Tripod, which we ended up not using, and a Nikon D5100.
Her body movements varied from moving on the floor to jumping in the air to squatting in front of sitting statues. When we explored the lightings in the museum; artificially and naturally produced, I also saw the dancer as a part of light and space. When it came to other people, they appreciated Kathryn as an unusual work of art as well as a surprise. As she danced in the crowd she seemed tranquil and as if she was listening to her own music and responding with her movement.
It was quite an unusual experience as we were not officially allowed to take the videos so time was of essence. When Kathryn improvised her movement, she had no time to think about them, she was forced to recreate the atmosphere of the room as she took it in on the spot. It explored a woman’s relationship to art and her own body and therefor became an intimate and personal experience for both me and Mona as the camerawomen, and Kathryn as the dancer.
When it came to mirroring the feeling we had in the moment with the audio, I had some trouble deciding on what I should add to the video, as the dances where very intimate and not based on a certain type of music or a rhythm. As I played around with different types of music, I decided to adopt the concept of a ‘silent disco’. A ‘silent disco’ is mostly a club where people dance to their own music, to create an authentic feeling of joy and preference over music. Which means when I play the video for an audience, I ask the audience to take headphones and watch the movements while listening to their music of preference. This creates an intimate relation between the dancer and mirrors my own experience while watching Kathryn dance in person.
For my material ‘Representing a space’ project, we were asked to represent a childhood space. When I thought about childhood spaces that had a lot of impact on me, the one that stuck out most to me in my memory was my bedroom. My father told me that when I was three years old I gathered my blanket and pillow and informed my parents that I was moving out from our shared room to sleep in one by myself. This became the mantra and atmosphere of it. My childhood bedroom was the juxtaposition between independence and dependence.
Every evening, my mother and father came inside my bedroom to read children’s stories to me, cover me with my blanket and to wish me a good night. I always felt welcome in my room and house. To me it was a place of compassion, love and acceptance. As I grew older I started secretly reading my own books underneath my blanket with a flashlight when it was too late to do so. It became a space of rebellion and comfort. One of acceptance and liberation.
As it came to the representation of such, I wanted to convey a feeling of comfort rather than to represent the actual space. This is because my parents shaped my presence and even up to this day they surpass this feeling of comfort, compassion and love.
Also, one of the activities that is most embedded in my memories is me drawing and painting. It is an activity and hobby I have loved to do all my life. When I did my project I wanted to mirror that in my choice of medium. To show fragility and joy and tranquillity and calmness. The more I thought about it the more I came to the conclusion to adapt the metaphor to be ‘under someones wing’.
When I began executing it, I wanted to include the wing as a central part of the image, to show how my parents where comforting me with covering me with a blanket my whole childhood and it was my favorite part of the day. I wanted to draw someone at their most vulnerable, as a child. With the books being the basis of my intellect and my appreciation of knowledge and reading nowadays, I wanted them to be a central part of my pencil-drawing and execution of my idea.
