Underskog

Prøverommet is a melting pot of new connections and it’s always a treat to be hosted at the best venue in Bergen for losing oneself in – Østre. This evening presents four distinct projects from individual artists and groups who share material that has never been seen by the public before.

Mila Elisabeth Larvoll screens a short film titled ‘How Ruška Moves The Crane’, introducing us to a woman called Ruška who has been operating cranes in Serbia since 1998. Masoud Alireza is interested in self-destructive political systems and presents ’Collapse’, a drawing-installation that invites the audience/citizens to participate in its destruction and reconstruction. Maria Helena Nerhus presents ‘Landscape of Memory’, a solo performance built from her collaborative practice circulating around the tangible and intangible. Beate Poikāne & Clea Filippa Ingwersen collaborate on a sensorial collage formed by sculptural structures, imagery and movement with a soundscape by Andrejs Poikans, exploring what emerges at the intersection between their three practices and the poetics of material elements in the space.

MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTS AND WHAT THEY WILL PRESENT

Andrejs Poikans is a new media and sound artist from Riga, currently studying his master’s at the Institute of Sonology at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. He graduated from New Media Arts in Liepaja University in 2020. His works are mostly researched based studies of media histories that attempt to explore alternative narratives of science and technology at their intersection with philosophy and politics. Throughout the past 2 years his research has been preoccupied with listening modes and the metaphysics of voice. Other works involve software-based art, net-art, installation art, generative art, creative coding and acousmatic music.

Beate Poikane is a scenographer and visual artist from Riga. In her work she often explores imagination’s relation to actual spaces. Through visual expressions she is playing with different layers of ‘fiction’ and ’reality’, building new dreamlike worlds. She is interested in spatial and temporal relationships in scenography, video, installation and more recently – performance.

Clea Filippa Ingwersen explores relations and forms of embodiment between human and material engagement. What dynamics are activated in the meeting, which sensual and magical qualities emerge, how can they be contained and leak simultaneously? What happens when the structure of a chosen material collapses, is ripped, bent, distorted – what new forms arise, what sounds, motions, possibilities, reverberations?

Beate, Clea and Andrejs collaborate on a sensorial collage formed by sound, sculptural structures, imagery and movement. An exploration of activation and revelation emerging at the intersection between their three practices and the poetics of material elements in the space.

Maria Helena Nerhus is an architect with an artistic practice and works with agency and representation. There exists a correlation between physical body movements and the way of understanding and drawing spaces. Maria will show a playful work-in-progress ‘Landscape of Mystery’ based on her experimental character-building, circulating around the topic of tangible and intangible relations between body, word, object, and physical space.

The piece builds on her collaborative project ‘Mystery X’, featuring a new soundscape by Paul Rasmussen and glass sculptures made in collaboration with Sigrid Rostad. ‘Mystery X – Learning task 1’ was previously shown at Tag Team with a soundscape made with Karina Sletten glass sculptures and textiles. This project is supported by Bergen Center for Electronic Arts and Bergen Kommune.

Masoud Alireza is an independent Iranian artist based in Bergen. He graduated with an MA from KMD in 2018. His works have been exhibited recently in HKS, Nye Bokboden, and Drammen museum. He won the debutant prize from Årsutstillingen-2022. For the first time with a public audience, Masoud tests out ’Collapse’, a drawing-installation inspired from the function of self-destruction political systems and allows the audience/citizen to participate in the destruction and reconstruction of the installation. I try to provide an experience of the physical state for the audience in which their bodies challenge themselves in an arena of confrontation with political forces.
(photo by Siavash Kheirkhah)

Mila Elisabeth Larvoll is a Bergen-based artist working with the creation of elevated realities through different digital mediums, focusing on video, photography, text, and print. She is currently taking her BFA at KMD. Her work focuses on generational trauma, feminism, traditions, and cultural practices based on collective suffering, as well as coping with it. She will be showing a short film called “How Ruška Moves The Crane”. This work explores & documents the position of women in patriarchal structures and introduces us to Ruška, the woman who has been operating cranes in Serbia since 1983.