Láibmat
2021
Sex Ecology, Trondheim Kunsthall (NO)
Sound installation: embroidered silk room 280 cm x 380 cm diameter, sound 20:00 min loop.
Commissioned by Kunsthall Trondheim and The Seed Box
Some hydrophone files from NINA scientist: Carolyn Rosten
Sounddesign created in collaboration with Richard Sveen
Photo: Daniel Vincent Hansen
Margrethe Pettersen invites the audience to be embraced by a symbolic body of water. Water is the source of all life and the work stems from the artist’s bodily exploration of the river, which is connected to the establishment of the city of Trondheim. During the work process, the artist visited Trondheim too float in the Nidelva. The title of the work, Láibmat, means toto float in Northern Sami. In the audio work, field recordings of Pettersen floating on and under the Nidelva while she gently joik and hums to the river can be heard.
For the artist, all of her works are interconnected: in each work lies the potential and future of the next – like the annual rings or growth stripes of a tree. Láibmat builds on the bodily experience from the artist’s long-term and ongoing project ‘Remembering with Rivers’ (2020–ongoing), where Pettersen will investigate and get to know Oslo’s ten rivers over ten years.
For the artist, listening to something is an act of care. To truly listen to something else requires respect, vulnerability, and time: to give one's time, to acknowledge equality by allowing organisms and landscapes to speak on their own terms, and to give time to listen to what fills the air and understand it as the wisdom of ancient creatures.
It begins with the landscape, where the river can be seen as important as a sister. It is not only about listening to what can be heard through sound, but also to rhythm, pace, and taste. Letting oneself float on and in the river is also about a form of sensual, respectful surrender: to exist at her pace, to be moved by her. Skin against water.