Freya Björg olafson
intermedia artist / artiste intermedia

This video was commissioned by Dancermakers and Fado Performance Art for ‘Future Dances’ a speculative choreography project with nine artists creating works for 50 years in the future.
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50 word description
3D avatars of the filmmaker, move through a virtual environment built from 3D LIDAR scans of two personal archives: the filmmaker’s former live/work space and performance materials from the late choreographer Tedd Robinson’s archive—a printed monologue on canvas and bells strung on ropes.

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243 word description
3D avatars of Freya are animated in a custom game environment using both keyboard controls and text prompt generated AI motion capture data. Freya’s avatars move through 3D LIDAR scans from two personal archives: the exterior of Freya’s studio/live space (2006–2023) and performance materials from the late Tedd Robinson’s archive, a monologue printed across pieces of canvas and bells strung along two ropes with handles.
Freya’s engagement with Tedd Robinson’s archival materials began through MULTIPLES, a collective process initiated in 2023 through Ten Gates Dancing Inc., following Tedd’s passing in 2022. Tedd Robinson (1952–2022) was a Canadian choreographer, performer, and educator, renowned for his distinctive solos alongside many collaborative works. He was an essential mentor and advisor on Freya's works AVATAR (2009), CPA [Consistent Partial Attention] (2013), and MÆ - Motion Aftereffect (2019). Tedd continually questioned the role of archives, not as static repositories, but as living entities that renew, regenerate, and connect across generations. 
This video considers the potential of moving images, 3D scans, code, motion capture, and avatars as digital archival tools that support and expand how dance and choreography are experienced, created, taught, documented, shared, archived, and remembered. The work blends virtual camera footage from Freya’s game environment with real-life video, including footage of Freya’s child, Ylfa, ringing Tedd’s bells, and a cockroach in Freya’s oven. By bridging personal scans and video with the Freya’s derealized AI-Mocap animated avatar, the work blurs time: beginnings and ends, birth and legacy, presence and preservation.
 

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