VODOU / 0047 / OSLO presents...

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0047 OSLO proudly presents:

VODOU

30.11.2007-13.01 2008

Opening reception: Friday November 30, 7 PM

Bo I. Cavefors (SE), Chisel (NO), Leander Djønne (NO), Leif Holmstrand (SE), Kira Kira (IS), Ragnar Kjartansson (IS), Ingvild Langgård og Thora Dolven Balke (NO), Iwo Myrin (SE), Bjargey Ólafsdóttir (IS), Pär Thörn (SE), Vinyl -terror & -horror (DK)

What is it that makes us shiver when we watch a horror movie? The Danish duo Vinyl -Terror & Horror, consisting of Camilla Sørensen and Greta Christensen, have made a composition inspired by the horror-movie genre, where the sound moves the story forward. The Icelandic artist Bjargey Ólafsdóttir whispers a silent secret story. The listener can choose the role of the confined friend or of the stranger eavesdropping on her. Together with eleven other artists, they contribute to the exhibition Vodou, where sound art and storytelling is the central element.

“Sound art” is a vague term, but we use it intentionally; this exhibition covers a wide range of audible expressions, from documentary recordings and readings to experimental compositions and pop tunes. It is a collection of different yet thematically intertwined sounds and stories.

The exhibition is a story about the spiritual, rooted in the tradition of folk tales. Fairytales and fables once bridged the borders between the Nordic countries. The folk stories were moralistic, entertaining fables of horror, death and suffering. Even though the role of communicating morals and ethics is somewhat outdated today, the storytelling itself is far from forgotten. In fact, one might say that storytelling is one of the central elements in today’s contemporary art practices. In this project we look at the connections between the folk-tales and the dystopian narratives fueled by a politically turbulent reality in contemporary art.

Instead of a catalogue, we have released a good, old fashioned vinyl record containing all the works in the exhibition. In fact, the record can be considered an exhibition in itself. One can bring the exhibition home and listen to it in solitude and one’s own time.

Curators: Lina Selander og Marianne Zamecznik.

Presention of works:

Kira Kira
Poltergeist Cuckoo (1 min)
He will always be there and there is nothing we can do about it. Embrace his sad old joke, echoing through eternity –good times bad times. His feathers are rusty and his voice broken, but whether we like it or not he will tell us when it's time. Is it time to fall in love or to explode?
The poltergeist cuckoo will make sure we know.

We don't stand a chance against eternity darling.
Við eigum ekki séns í eilífðina elskan.

Bo I. Cavefors
Liberty and Equality (10:32 min)
Summer 1956. Jacob and me. We loved each other since we was twelve. Now: twenty years old. London. - - - I stretch my back. My hands on my cock. Hardjacking. Jacob and his legs. It is very clear. Fine lines in the fog. Coca and cock are married. Whisky. Our boddies explodes as solitaire objects among furnitures, beddings, pictures and books. All is smelt as a richly coloured ocean. The billows run high. The body is sweet. To hug.To look at. Jacob is absolutely still but must raise the rump to give space for his bigger and bigger cock. His black skin, but deep in his rump it was more and more white. Even when I not touch him I can in my fingers and in my tounge feel how it is to kiss the silky hair on his rump...

Chisel
Notions Never Promise (4:18)
Chisel is scandinavian hardvolk performed with vocals and electric guitar. It’s music bears a resemblance to folk music by different ways of tuning, & hardrock by the style of playing it. The lyrics often take on the mundane with an occult, superstitious yet bored attitude. Notions never promise is a take where the guitar - in standard tuning - is left alone echoing the songs sordid mode.

Leander Djønne
Fight for the right to be silent (3:08 min)
There’s an evil virus exterminating man and serious the state of the mind, the robbers, the back-stabbers, the two faced leaders, the menace to society is a social disease, to brainwash the mind is a social disorder, the cynics, the apathy, the cheap new order; we’re watching the beginnings of social decay, growling and sneering, eating away your own self-esteem, pulsing on every word you might be saying, to attack someone’s mind is a social disorder, the constitution, the government, the marshall order, superficially smiling, the shake of hands, as soon as you turn your back, cause that’s what is planned, what ever good thing laid to rest by the government, by the constitution and their lies, and every time you think you are safe and you turn away, you should know they are sharpening all of their knifes, all in yr mind all in yr head you try to relate it, all in yr mind all in yr head you try to escape it. They want to sink the ship and laugh at me and you, and it happens all the time, but it’s only in your mind, they know who you are, they know what you do, that’s the beginning of social decay.
Female voice: Shirin Sabahi & Sarah Tyler

Pär Thörn
786 (4:05 min)
The phrase ”Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim” is recited several times as part of Muslim daily prayers. The phrase means: ”In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful”. The total value of the letters of ”Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim”, according to the Abjad system of numerology, is 786. Some people, mostly in India and Pakistan, use 786 as a substitute for ”Bismillah…”. They write this number to avoid writing the name of God on ordinary papers, which can be subject to dirt or come in contact with 'unclean' materials. In my sound piece ”786” I only use two sine wave sounds at 786 hertz each.

Leif Holmstrand
Beware Of (4:22 min)
”Beware Of” is a song I wrote and recorded in 2000. The song was recorded with a band consisting of bass, guitar and drums. After recording my voice singing, I cut away all the instruments. All that remains of them is some leakage from the headphones into the microphone. Since all the instruments are gone, long silences has become an important part of the piece; where there used to be a guitar solo, now there is nothing.

Iwo Myrin
Nocturnal Hunt (6:33 min)
The source material for the piece Nocturnal Hunt is ultrasonic recordings of bats, generated from their larynges through their open mouths to help them echolocate insects during their nocturnal hunts. These sounds, beyond the range of the human ear, where recorded June 23rd till 24th 2007 around The Katarina Church in Stockholm which have a history of being burned down twice and of several witch-trials. In the western culture, bats symbolize ghosts, death and disease, though in other cultures, in China for example, the bat is a symbol of longevity and happiness.
Nocturnal Hunt was realized at the composers studio and EMS, Stockholm.

Vinyl -terror & -horror
Off the record (7:55)
theme of loosing track...
where the plot gets lost.
This scene is blurring the story making the spectator doubt what was obvious so far. There is an atmosphere of reversed intensions and a wish to undo what have been done. Characters dwell for a while in this state of being without a story to follow. "Off the record" is part of a soundtrack for a horror movie, where the film is not needed.

Ragnar Kjartansson
Hurt The One You Love (2007)
3:00
A woman is crying endlessly.

Ingvild Langgård and Thora Dolven Balke
I wanna be Loved by You and I wanna be loved by you Reversed (1:43 min each)
I wanna be Loved by You is a version of the Marilyn Monroe hit with the same name, only sung reversed. To perform something backwards refers to the black mass. The reversing of the text indicates a negation of the original message; a deep wish to be loved at any cost.
I wanna be loved by you Reversed is a reversal of the track I wanna be Loved by You. The voices are distorted, and the now recognisable song seems forced and abrupt. The original intendment of the song is revealed, but sounds unfamiliar and uncanny, like a message from the other side.

Bjargey Ólafsdóttir
Too Many Vodkas(31 seconds)
He said his lawyer friend asked him
yesterday if he would suck his dick.
He also said that his friend had
bought an engagement ring for 13000 Norwegian Kroner
for his girlfriend.
He told me that he had told his friend
that he just wanted to be his friend
not his lover
Too many vodkas too many vodkas

You Said You Were Hung Over (45 seconds)
Mini song with voice and harmonium, very sad, very beautiful.

Young Jack (18 seconds)
I told the psychoanalyst
that I had dreamt that
I had sex with young
Jack Nicholson in an airplane
The psychoanalyst said
I should take it easy

Vodou will presented at Galleri 54 in Gothenburgh, Sweden 15.02 – 16.03.2008

For further informasjon, please contact Marianne Zamecznik on +47 411 27 601 or EMAIL

The exhibition is closed from December 16th, and reopens January 3rd

0047 OSLO
Schweigaards gate 34, entrance D, 2. Floor (entrance from Platous gate), 0191 Oslo

Opening hours:
WEDNESDAY-FRIDAY 12 - 17
SATURDAY-SUNDAY 12 - 16
MONDAY-TUESDAY CLOSED
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