Elsudóttir
3 Performances
Kifsá | Tréstadir | Skarfa vör
2022
upcoming ...
films are still being edited
The work »Elsudóttir« was created in summer 2022 as part of my working scholarship from the state of Schleswig-Holstein in collaboration with the artist Johan Meister. lt consists of three performance films: Kifsá, Tréstadir and Skarfa vör. The films feature three site-specific performances that show the bodily exploration of three different spatial environments that are of personal significance to me.
As a performance artist and studied scenographer I work on the bodily perception of space. As the daughter of an lcelandic mother, I maintain a special relationship with lceland – the nature, the language and people are known to me. In the work Elsudóttir I seek out three places in lceland that are very personal to me. I investigate them with my body. To me he is my most important instrument of perception and means of expression. In the encounter with these places, my bodily perception of the respective places, overlaps and interweaves in the act of moving with my memories of the space and the people associated with it. As a result of that exploration three performance films where made which show the investigation of three different spacial settings.
site-specific performance-films | scholarship: Kulturstiftung des Landes Schleswig-Holstein | at Iceland | Soffia Heese in cooperation with Johan Meister
Kífsá
The piece Kífsá examines the ruin with the body. It experiences it performatively, relates to it in this way, measures it, experiences its proportions and traces of its history. In this way, the architecture gradually opens up with the whole body groping through it.
Kífsá is a small place in the north of lceland near Akureyri, where the ruins of my grandfather's family home still exist. He lived there together with his parents, four brothers and some animals. lt was a harsh life back then with no running water or electricity especially considering the icelandic climate. To this day the ruins are still regularly visited by my family for remembrance and a place where large family reunions are held. But my great grandfather was actually a German who ended up marrying an icelandic woman. Fleeting the ravages of war they left Germany in 1945 and lived in Kífsá before moving back in 1949. As the only one of five kids my grandfather returned already in 1954 and became an lcelander.
Tréstaðir
Tréstadir is a work about roaming through the vastness of nature. Growing up on Tréstadir in the summers, the nature around the farm fundamentally shaped my understanding of space and awakened in me a strong sense of vastness. I think I've been looking for that vastness of Iceland in everything ever since, looking for flowing spaces in which to move freely.
Tréstaði is the name of my aunt's farm outside Akureyri. Together with my brother, I spent all my summer vacations there. Many of my fandest childhood memories are based there: playing with my cousins and my brother, enjoying the animals company, or spending hours wandering through the vastness that a farm in lceland offers. Alone with myself, letting my thoughts run free.
Skarfa vör
The small beach Skarfa vör is completely surrounded by an industrial building, a wall, rocks and the sea. In between, it lies as a small free space, held and dynamized by its expressive surroundings. The piece Skarfa vör dances to this in-between-space. The performer perceives the different environments through movement, gives expression to their dynamics, conceives movement impulses and directional instructions, and thus transforms the surrounding architecture and nature into a performative act.
Skarfa vör is located in the southwest of lceland near Akranes, the birthplace of my great-grandmother. This is where my grandmother and her four siblings were born, all of whom still live nearby. The youngest brother even still lives in Akranes. All of his children's wedding photos were taken at Skarfa vör. Not far from here she met my grandfather and gave birth to my mother and her sister.
Elsudóttir
3 Performances
Kifsá | Tréstadir | Skarfa vör
2022
upcoming ...
films are still being edited
The piece »Elsudóttir« consists of three performance films: Kifsá, Tréstadir and Skarfa vör. The films feature three site-specific performances that show the bodily exploration of three different spatial environments that are of personal significance to me.
The work »Elsudóttir« was created in summer 2022 as part of my working scholarship from the state of Schleswig-Holstein in collaboration with the artist Johan Meister. lt consists of three performance films: Kifsá, Tréstadir and Skarfa vör.
As a performance artist and studied scenographer I work on the bodily perception of space. As the daughter of an lcelandic mother, I maintain a special relationship with lceland – the nature, the language and people are known to me. In the work Elsudóttir I seek out three places in lceland that are very personal to me. I investigate them with my body. To me he is my most important instrument of perception and means of expression. In the encounter with these places, my bodily perception of the respective places, overlaps and interweaves in the act of moving with my memories of the space and the people associated with it. As a result of that exploration three performance films where made which show the investigation of three different spacial settings.
site-specific performance-films | scholarship: Kulturstiftung des Landes Schleswig-Holstein | at Iceland | Soffia Heese in cooperation with Johan Meister
The piece Kífsá examines the ruin with the body. It experiences it performatively, relates to it in this way, measures it, experiences its proportions and traces of its history. In this way, the architecture gradually opens up with the whole body groping through it.
Kífsá is a small place in the north of lceland near Akureyri, where the ruins of my grandfather's family home still exist. He lived there together with his parents, four brothers and some animals. lt was a harsh life back then with no running water or electricity especially considering the icelandic climate. To this day the ruins are still regularly visited by my family for remembrance and a place where large family reunions are held. But my great grandfather was actually a German who ended up marrying an icelandic woman. Fleeting the ravages of war they left Germany in 1945 and lived in Kífsá before moving back in 1949. As the only one of five kids my grandfather returned already in 1954 and became an lcelander.
The small beach Skarfa vör is completely surrounded by an industrial building, a wall, rocks and the sea. In between, it lies as a small free space, held and dynamized by its expressive surroundings. The piece Skarfa vör dances to this in-between-space. The performer perceives the different environments through movement, gives expression to their dynamics, conceives movement impulses and directional instructions, and thus transforms the surrounding architecture and nature into a performative act.
Skarfa vör is a special little beach, because it is not only very hidden – surrounded by walls, industrial plants and rocks – but it is also not black, as would be usual in lceland. lt is white, not a volcanic but a calcareous beach and therefore a special feature in this country. Skarfa vör is located in the southwest of lceland near Akranes, the birthplace of my great-grandmother. This is where my grandmother and her four siblings were born, all of whom still live nearby. The youngest brother even still lives in Akranes. All of his children's wedding photos were taken at Skarfa vör. Not far from here she met my grandfather and gave birth to my mother and her sister.
The small beach Skarfa vör is completely surrounded by an industrial building, a wall, rocks and the sea. In between, it lies as a small free space, held and dynamized by its expressive surroundings. The piece Skarfa vör dances to this in-between-space. The performer perceives the different environments through movement, gives expression to their dynamics, conceives movement impulses and directional instructions, and thus transforms the surrounding architecture and nature into a performative act.
Skarfa vör is a special little beach, because it is not only very hidden – surrounded by walls, industrial plants and rocks – but it is also not black, as would be usual in lceland. lt is white, not a volcanic but a calcareous beach and therefore a special feature in this country. Skarfa vör is located in the southwest of lceland near Akranes, the birthplace of my great-grandmother. This is where my grandmother and her four siblings were born, all of whom still live nearby. The youngest brother even still lives in Akranes. All of his children's wedding photos were taken at Skarfa vör. Not far from here she met my grandfather and gave birth to my mother and her sister.
