threshold
part of the [LIMINAL] series 5m 29
Video | performance: Freya Björg Olafson
Video 5m29s
Premiered as part of the exhibition:
“Sensing the Future: Moholy-Nagy,
Media & The Arts”
Plug In ICA | March 2014 | Winnipeg
Bauhaus Archiv | October 2015 | Berlin, Germany
Interview during www.wndx.org 2016, featuring clips from 'Threshold'
Contact Freya for the password to view the work online
"Contemporary dancer and performance artist Freya Olafson bridges technological and historical divides with characteristic oddness in Threshold, an otherworldly webcam performance shot with Photo Booth’s “X-ray” filter in front of the original Light Prop. Between the video’s low resolution and aggressive processing, Olafson is reduced to an undulating spectre of light and shadow shuddering in concert with Moholy-Nagy’s sculpture."
- Steven Leyden Cochrane
Winnipeg Free Press
Recorded at the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum fuer Gestaltung in Berlin with László Moholy-Nagy's 'Light Prop for an Electric Stage'
In Threshold I kinaesthetically engage and respond to the subtle yet repetitive movements of László Moholy-Nagy’s “Light Prop for an Electric Stage.” Restricted to a small storage room at the Bauhaus-Archiv, where I had solitary time with the Light Prop, I utilized the limitation as a framework. I allowed the movement and sound of the “Light Prop” to determine my improvisation and experimentation with movement, on site and on camera. Moholy-Nagy was committed to instating humanity in control of the machine rather than the reverse. In Threshold my locus of control vacillates between the machine leading and/or my body initiating, thereby working to cultivate a kinaesthetic reciprocity as the central dynamic fueling the work. The parameters of my works extend and explore Moholy-Nagy’s conception of expanded cinema through what he termed the “Poly-Cinema;” inclusive of the use of various technologies and video projection techniques, including chromadepth 3-D glasses. Part of a larger practice concerned with the inter-relationship of art and technology, my works HYPER_ , [LIMINAL] and Threshold resituate Moholy-Nagy’s concerns and predilections within the language and hardware of the 21st century.
'Threshold' is part of a new body of work entitled [LIMINAL], created with the support of The Winnipeg Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Council & Canada Council for the Arts
Exhibited as part of:
plugin.org/exhibitions/2014/sensing-future-moholy-nagy-media-and-arts
Read about the work here: http://plug-in-ica.tumblr.com/post/84145038790/threshold-2014-freya-bj%C3%B6rg-olafson-video
The development of the [LIMINAL} series is generously supported by:
The Canada Council for The Arts,
Manitoba Arts Council,
The Winnipeg Arts Council
& Video Pool Media Arts Center
The [LIMINAL] series received production and residency supports from:
Atlantic Center for the Arts (New Smyrna Beach, Florida)
Plug In ICA 'Summer Institute (Winnipeg, Manitoba)
SIM - Association of Icelandic Visual Artists (Reykjavík, Iceland)
Recorded at the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum fuer Gestaltung in Berlin with László Moholy-Nagy's 'Light Prop for an Electric Stage'. Thank you to Klaus Weber, Oliver Botar, and Annemarie Jaeggi.
Exhibition / Screening History:
2016 VIDEOMEDJA - Novi Sad, Serbia
2016 WNDX - Festival of Moving Images - Winnipeg, Mb
2016 DAÏMON - 30 ans Daïmôn : Lancement de "Présences" + VFP - Gatineau, Qc
2016 Groupe Intervention Vidéo - VFP - Vidéos Femmes Dans La Parc - Montréal, Qc
2014 Plug In Institute for Contemporary Art - ‘Sensing the Future: Moholy-Nagy, Media & The Arts” curated by Dr. Oliver Botar - Winnipeg, Manitoba
2014 Bauhaus Archiv - ‘ Sensing the Future: Moholy-Nagy, Media & The Arts” curated by Dr. Oliver Botar - Berlin, Germany
Distributed by: VIDEO POOL MEDIA ARTS CENTER as of April 2016, available as digital file
Threshold
part of the
[LIMINAL] Series
Video | performance: Freya Björg Olafson
Video 5m29s
In Threshold I kinesthetically engage and respond to the subtle yet repetitive movements of László Moholy-Nagy’s ‘Light Prop for an Electric Stage’. Restricted by the spatial parameters of a small storage room at the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin, where I had solitary time with the Light Prop, I utilized the imposed structure as a framework instead of a limitation. I allowed the movement and sound of the Light Prop to determine my improvisation and experimentation with movement, on site and on camera. As if anticipating media theorist Friedrich Kittler’s dictum that “it is we who adapt to the machine. The machine does not adapt to us,” Moholy-Nagy was committed to instating humanity in control of the machine. In Threshold the locus of control vacillates between the Light Prop leading and / or my body initiating, thereby working to cultivate a kinesthetic reciprocity as the central dynamic fueling the work.
Threshold is part of my new body of work entitled [LIMINAL]. Currents from [LIMINAL] intersect with my previous series HYPER_ , which explores the limits of perception by shifting the dimensionality of my live body in relationship to the immersive screen, moving between 2D and 3D representations of corporeality. The parameters of my works extend and explore Moholy-Nagy’s conception of expanded cinema through what he termed the Poly-Cinema; inclusive of the use of various technologies and video projection techniques, including chromadepth 3-D glasses. Part of a larger practice concerned with the inter-relationship of art and technology, my works HYPER_ , [LIMINAL] and Threshold re-situate Moholy-Nagy’s concerns and predilections within the language and hardware of the 21st century.
Recorded at the Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum fuer Gestaltung in Berlin with László Moholy-Nagy's 'Light Prop for an Electric Stage'. Thank you to Klaus Weber, Oliver Botar, and Annemarie Jaeggi.
Exhibition History:
“Sensing the Future: Moholy-Nagy, Media & The Arts”
Plug In ICA | March 2014 | Winnipeg
Bauhaus Archiv | October 2015 | Berlin, Germany
Curated by Dr. Oliver Botar
Will be distributed by: VIDEO POOL MEDIA ARTS CENTER as of Janurary 2015
Available as digital file
