2015 » Norway » Section of Countries and Regions

Curator:	Karen Schønemann
Authors of Theme:	Vera Krohn-Svaleng, Karen Schønemann
Institution:	The Association of Norwegian Scenographers

Please Please Me!

Norway’s curatorial team has selected scenographer and artist Signe Becker to represent the country. Her contribution to PQ, which builds on elements from her earlier projects, is both an autonomous art installation and a visual documentation of her scenographic work. By combining these elements, she has created a new story.

The Norwegian contribution to the Prague Quadrennial 2015 is part of the theme Politics, which can be understood as making a statement; taking a stand. Theatre is all about making statements, often open to interpretation. Scenography is the art of spatial expression, and in terms of politics it has the capacity to disturb the culture of already established spaces. Norway’s contribution to the Prague Quadrennial, with its unusual combinations, serves as a forceful statement, an intervention and a disturbance.

Becker’s work invites a subjective viewing. It gives the audience the freedom to define and delimit what they see. She combines elements and manipulates them into a whole that can seem odd and uncanny at first glance. Combining these contrasting elements, she draws up alienated images, tableaux, viewpoints and stories. Her work opens up individual interpretations and doubts, thus paving the way for critique and influence.

The work includes a 300-square-meter Norwegian flag that was originally used in the Lindås, a theatrical performance about Norway’s petroleum industry. In this context, the flag was too big to ever be unfolded within the performance space – the actors almost drowned in it. The differentiated bodies on top of this seemingly flying carpet are from the performance of Broene (The Bridges) at Brageteatret in Drammen (Norway) – an ode to the anniversary of Norwegian women’s suffrage.

The installation stands in contrast to the baroque staircase and acts as an extension of it. The cherubs located on the ceiling, which are “moving down” towards the flag, connect the future with the past. When the bodies hold several contemporary gadgets or symptoms, this might give the impression that it is a future way of looking back at present times.

Norway as a nation has mostly been spared the economic turbulence that the rest of Europe has experienced in recent decades. This situation has created a sort of privileged oasis, which could just as easily become a closed purgatory if complacency prevails. With this installation, Becker is shaping an apocalyptic future vision at a time when Norway has been experiencing its absolute economic heyday.

Within the northern European context, the installation could be associated with The Wild Hunt – or Åsgårdsreia, as it was called in old Norwegian – a motley herd of troubled souls riding through the sky at night. This myth was a warning against all kinds of hazardous actions that humans might engage in or be confronted with. Approaching Becker’s work with this in mind enables a further commentary on today’s political situation, within a possible future perspective.