Fragments of Truth:
Metal netting/Seagrass and seaweeds/Helium balloons/Projection/Audio
Fragments of Truth was a site-specific tableaux in the sketching room of the National Gallery of Denmark. The tableaux included a sculpture installation as well as a video piece with an audio track of the poem Fragments of Truth in three different languages.
Video: Marie Dahl
The sculpture installation was a combination of a sculpture by Marie Dahl from a prior exhibition and an existing sculpture from the museum. Nest, a big bird’s nest, constructed in seaweed and seagrass, was floating above the bronze sculpture Boy with a splinter by the aid of five big balloons. The juxtaposition of the different materials, their weight and floating nest play with the viewers knowledge of reality. Every element is in its right place, but together the scene is skewed.
The low-fi video-poem is made out of four series of still photos of objects or phenomenon, interrupted at the word “truth” in the poem by a photo of Marie’s son with a balloon. The poem is divided into four stanzas: the three first is the same text in Danish, German and English, the third a cut up of the Danish stanza. The poem circles around the desire for unity, clarity and the sense of wholeness, which as a constant proves an illusion and shattered when briefly experienced. Using translations is a play on the futility of language to capture any of these thoughts, feelings or experiences.
The audience was free to come and go while the installation was built. The room was visited by performers throughout the night.
