views from level 15
2022, video/audio, 10:00
Graduation work from AKI ArtEZ in Enschede, The Netherlands. Audiovisuals and modulated voice.
,,Sjávarstaða á jörðinni hækkar vegna hlýnunar jarðar"
"Earth's sea level is rising due to global warming"
Works
HEX HELIO
2021, video/audio, 18:00
HEX HELIO is an audio/visual installation piece and the result of my graphic notation research.
The performance embodies the eternal cyclic movement of existence, inspired by the Earth’s orbit with the dancers moving in a constant circular movement. Containing six chapters, each can be described as a layer, where a layer is represented by a word from the text accompanying the work. Each word describes the movement of the layer they are paired with and every layer gradually adds to the story. The audio is controlled by the same words, creating a mystical and elusive soundscape by composer R. Erla Björnsdóttir.
ég syndi í vindinum
(I swim in the wind)
2021, video/audio, 22:00
Visual and aural representation of distorted nature travelling through polluters.
video
Sister Nature
2020, video/audio, 5:00
This work is a critique on how humans have become detached from nature. How we see ourselves as “us vs. the nature” but not as “us the nature”.
We create artificial experiences of nature instead of finding the nature within ourselves.
Can we find a way to experience being one with nature in order to understand its needs?
We are intelligent enough to shift the damning narrative we have created for our planet. The power to right our wrongs towards our planet does not give us power over nature, we are and always will be a part of it.
We need to be making informed decisions to improve the relationship between us and nature, to show it love and care, as if she was our sister.
video
Boundless, constant, forever
2020, video/audio, 03:00
Changes in our surroundings can be very fast, both natural and man-made. A man-made change in natural surroundings is usually considered artificial. But how can it be made organic? Can the artificial become a part of the natural or will there always be a barrier between these two elements?
What happens when something artificial is added to wild nature? Why is it different from adding something natural to an artificial space? Is pure, wild nature more organic than a houseplant?
I am searching for boundaries between the organic and artificial, the natural and man-made. Using both artificial and natural material I explore how and if the artificial matter can disguise as a natural one or if the contrast between the two is too big. It is an ongoing research and one where all elements involved can be explored in multiple ways by not forcing the two to become one. Keeping in mind that it is important that how I work and incorporate these elements in my work does not contaminate nor disrupt nature itself.
video
Works by SÚL_VAD
vatnaveran mín
2021, video/audio, 22:00
vatnaveran mín (my water creature) is an audio/visual installation piece for 4 projectors and 5 speakers. Premiered in Mosfellsbær art gallery, the piece explores human influence on the environment and contamination of the seas. In the visual part of the work, the body is used as a representation of the self, where movements and choice of materials are highlighted. The sound world is a composition in five parts for flute, vocals and electronics by Erla.
velgja
2019, video/audio, 6:00
Velgja is an audio/visual installation that premiered at IÐNÓ summer 2019. Later, presented at RASK #2 in Reykjavík in 2020 and at Ung Nordisk Musik Festival in Denmark, 2021.
Velgja awakes within a conversation between the subconscious and the self in a dream. It arises and offers us clues about our lives - appearing to us in various ways: an upset stomach, series of sleepless nights, endless itching and bleeding wounds. Heavy, heavy breathing. As the waves within us demand to come forward. The piece expresses the nausea of the inner life moments before the itching begins.
Seglskraut: Currents in Ocean's Circulation
2019, audio visual performance, 30:00
Currents in Ocean Circulation, is a composition written for 13 performers and audiovisuals and was chosen for Ung Nordisk Musik Festival 2019 in Sweden. The video installation expands the visual aspects of the work by creating an oceanic world inspired by the Icelandic shore found within the poetry collection, which the composition is originally built upon. The video installation is in 7 different parts, each depicting in different ways the raw and dreamlike energy caught in water around the island. The visuals were described by composer James Black in the Seismograf as following: “[...] and a beautiful, unpretentious video of ocean movements played in reverse, that in some bizarre way complemented the guttural, rich material from the choir.”
Ymur
2018, video/audio, 27:00
Ymur was created for the European audio & art exhibition Tut Töt Tuð in Grand Theater Groningen, The Netherlands. The piece is constructed vocal improvisation with electronics and video. It is an ever changing piece, changing each time it is performed, depending on the place and time.
Ymur has a strong indication to both Icelandic nature and the Icelandic language’s phonology. The visuals explore the power of elements and different forces in Icelandic landscape. The video work started as a video research collected in the summer of 2018 and then evolved as Erla and Ásdís started collaborating and bouncing off of each others material. The electronics by Erla disguise as nature sounds while the visuals are originally filmed in nature but sometimes seem to be machine-like. The vocal performance by Erla is heavily influenced by her research of the deconstruction of phonology, combined with improvisation and sound poetry.