For the project Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine a group of people dedicate themselves to memorizing a book of their choice. Together they form a library collection consisting of living books. The books pass their time in libraries reading, memorizing, talking to each other, going for walks outside, prepared to be read by a visitor. The readings take place as intimate one-to-one encounters where the book recites its content for the visitor. Libraries are chosen for this work not just a background or a scenery, but for functional and formal reasons. We go to libraries to read or borrow books, we pass time, we can come and go as we like. Libraries are one of few remaining public spaces that are open and free for the public to use. When performing in the library as ‘books’, we permeate and become a porous part of the environment, at the same time as we share intimate spaces with our readers. Book and reader oscillate between different spaces – the space of the library, the space of performance, and the space of reading.
Part of Episode XXV: “Assemblies of Individuals. Live Work in Non-Performance Spaces”
With Mette Edvardsen, Tino Sehgal & Florian Malzacher
15. November 2023 – WASP, Working Art Space, Bucharest / Romania
Organized by 4Culture Association, as part of EXPLORING PLUREALITIES
Biography
The work of Mette Edvardsen is situated within the performing arts field as a choreographer and performer. Although some of her works explore other media or other formats, such as video, books and writing, her interest is always in their relationship to the performing arts as a practice and a situation. She has worked since 1994 as a dancer and performer for a number of companies and projects, and develops her own work since 2002. She presents her works internationally and continues to develop projects with other artists, both as a collaborator and as a performer. A retrospective of her work was presented at Black Box theatre in Oslo in 2015, and the focus program Idiorritmias at MACBA in Barcelona in 2018. Her project Time has fallen alseep in the afternoon sunshine is ongoing since 2010, presented twice at Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels in 2013 & 2017, Sydney Biennale in 2016, Index Foundation in Stockholm in 2019, Oslobiennalen First Edition in 2019-2020, Trust & Confusion at Tai Kwun Arts in Hong Kong in 2021, Sao Paulo Biennale 2021. She presented works and a performative exhibition Suppose a Room at Amant in New York in 2022, and develops a research in long term residency at Les Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers in Paris 2022/ 2023. She runs a small publishing house, Varamo Press, together with Jeroen Peeters. Mette Edvardsen is currently finalizing her Phd research at Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
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