Ocean Glory- multimedia work (2019)

Synopsis and credits

The video work & installation performance Ocean Glory is the first artistic outcome from this collaboration. It was commissioned by Savy Contemporary in Berlin and shown on the 9^th of November 2019 as part of an exhibition ‘The long time you cannot afford. On the distribution of the toxic’ curated by Antonia Alampi and Caroline Ektander. In continuation of that it was shown on the 18th of November 2019 at the Flutgraben Performance Series event at Flutgraben in Berlin.

Ocean Glory (25 min, HD single-channel video, 2019) is the 2nd artwork deriving from the new art-practice-as-research project S-I-L-I-C-A that investigates the production process behind the making of semiconductors in solar cells and microelectronics. The film was developed from research footage shot by the artist in a silica mine in SW-Australia, on silica terminal in the port of Albany, SW-Australia and in a silica processing plant on the coast of North-Iceland and geothermal energy plant in the highlands above it. After receiving a commission the initiator of the project Hulda Rós Guðnadóttir recruited composer Guðný Guðmundsdóttir to compose a soundscape from sound recorded on location, in what Guðný calls progression of sounding elements, and choreographer Margrét Sara Guðjónsdóttir to adapt her research on automatic compositional full body states called Hyperstates, to support the sensorial intimate experience of the audience and encounter of an inner and outer reality. The politics of ‘Ocean Glory’ happens in intimate moments when the states of the dancer and the soundscape serves to open up a doorway to the reality of the film. Instead of approaching the subject of the film by taking a critical stance towards something identified as being external and belonging to others the audience is invited to become aware of how the state of the world resonates within his own body. It is in the state of the dancers that ambiguity, new truths and thoughts can breathe, form and come to life.  

Credits

Laura Siegmund for performance, Nils Banthien for sound design, Dennis Helm for green screen camera and post-production, Siggi ‘zoom’ for drone camera operation, Sigfús Jónsson and Tim Maisey for sound recording, Erin Honeycut for text proofreading, Benjamin Gow and Tash Rolfe for location management and coordination. Editing and other camera work is credited to the artist. Special thanks go to Leighton Debarros, Sumanth Surendran and Sunna Jóna Guðnadóttir for goodwill and for Icelandic Art Fund for support.

Photos