Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.05.2012, Blaðsíða 30

30
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 5 — 2012
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Art | In Africa
Mudbricks In The Desert
Artist Elín Hansdóttir went to the Marrakech Biennale
"I worked with eight local men, who
understandably were all a little
sceptical of the project in the be-
ginning. I speak a little French, and
so do they, but we obviously also
had to invent another way of com-
municating. Since we only had ten
days to finish the construction, we
had to make very quick decisions
together based on their expertise
and my experience. Both the team
and people passing by kept asking
questions like "What is it and what
is it for?" I don't believe there is an
answer to that question, other than
"What do you think?" It seems that
the question as such is the great-
est importance, not necessarily
the answer. But after a rabbit had
been sacrificed for lunch once and
cooked in a tagine inside the spiral,
the friendship had become ground-
ed enough to forgive any kind of
nonsense."
Artist Elín Hansdóttir is describing her
work on a project for the Fourth Mar-
rakech Biennale in Morocco, which
started in late February and will still be
on view until early June. Elín tells me
she received an invitation and an art-
ist's residency grant at Dar Al-Ma’mûn,
about 14 km outside of the city of Mar-
rakech. “Since I arrived in Morocco in
December,” she says, “I had been ques-
tioning the meaning and purpose of an
arts biennale in North-Africa. I decided
that it made more sense to me to devel-
op something with locals out in the field
in the village next to where I live, rather
than showing something in the offered
exhibition space downtown.”
THE EFFECTS OF GLOBALIzATION
She tells me more about how the
growth of biennials and art fairs all
over the world is obvious evidence that
globalisation has had an immense im-
pact on contemporary art practice in
the past twenty years. “This has lead to
a kind of ‘international style’ of works
which, despite their differing quality,
simply appear to be the same in any
kind of location,” she explains. “In re-
sponse to this, many biennials have
recently sought to encourage a direct
‘engagement’ with the ‘cultural spe-
cifics’ of each location, which can be
tricky in a post-colonial era. From my
perspective creating a large-scale site-
specific work that costs the equivalent
of an average Moroccan worker’s two
year salary is a huge responsibility. The
stakes are high for experimentation in
a country where most people strive for
food.”
When she got to the site she be-
came interested in the traditional
Berber mudbricks (made from earth,
water and straw), which most buildings
in the village are built from. “What fas-
cinated me was the fact that unlike us
in the West, they hardly use tools dur-
ing construction, instead they mainly
employ manpower and imagination on
site,” she says. “Furthermore, it is in-
teresting that they use the soil of the
construction site to produce the build-
ing material. This results in whole vil-
lages almost seeming to mutate out of
the landscape.”
That was something Elín could re-
late to: "An element of a site is altered
and sometimes reproduced to create a
different context. In the end we built a
large scale spiral-like structure using
mudbricks and attached mirrors that
divide the viewers’ movements into
separate and distinct moments, as they
walk past."
What will happen to the structure
after the biennale ends? "The bricks
will be distributed and re-used by the
team that helped me build the struc-
ture. The mirrors will also be given
away to the families in the village. The
piece will disappear but the material
will just be shifted to another setting.”
MOROCCAN SPRING?
Neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt have
been in the news over the last year
and a half, due to the Arab uprising.
Morocco has stayed in the shadows,
yet reports of human rights abuses
have been many. But does Elín feel the
winds of the Arab spring are reaching
Morocco? "The protests in Morocco
were quite peaceful in comparison to
other Arab countries, although there
were casualties,” she says. “Morocco's
King Mohammad VI proposed the writ-
ing of a new constitution, with the aim
of increasing the power of the elected
government, gender equality and to im-
prove civil liberties. But since the secu-
rity services, cabinet positions and re-
ligious appointments remain under the
control of the king, it is questionable
whether these reforms go far enough,
for a country that has been accused of
human rights abuse in the past. Despite
all the changes, Morocco remains a
very corrupt country, but it will certainly
be interesting to follow the reaction of
the younger generation on a long-term
basis.”
She didn't discuss the political situ-
ation much with the men with whom
she was working. "But Dar Al-Ma’mûn
organised a philosophical banquet in
the village next to Mud Brick Spiral,
where Driss Ksikes, a controversial
Moroccan journalist and playwright,
talked about art in public space which
then opened up to a public discussion.
It was very touching to see people of all
ages who have never been asked their
opinion take the microphone. Dar Al-
Ma’mûn's team wants to organise simi-
lar events every month in the future,
which hopefully will encourage people
to share their knowledge and discuss
relevant issues. I always intended for
Mud Brick Spiral to be an excuse for
random encounters, functioning as a
kind of magnet or meeting point for
other things. If the public space around
the piece, which before was an empty
dusty field, is being used for events like
the before mentioned banquet, then I
believe there is hope for art in public
space."
Finally I cannot resist asking her
about ‘Nói albínói,’ the film most of us
saw her in first. She played Elín, Nói's
girlfriend, and has very good memories
of the project—but hasn't acted since. “I
have never thought of pursuing an act-
ing career, there are too many incred-
ibly talented professional actors out
there. But if I would someday be invited
to be a fly on the wall in an interest-
ing movie, I might accept the offer, out
of curiosity. Film sets are fascinating
places.”
“The stakes are high for experimentation in a
country where most people strive for food."”
For more information: www.elinhansdottir.net |www.dam-arts.org
Words
Ásgeir H. Ingólfsson
Photography
Elín Hansdóttir