Reykjavík Grapevine - 23.05.2014, Blaðsíða 63

Enter young Icelandic artist
Ragnheiður Harpa Leifsdóttir, whose
practise fortuitously engages with all
of these aspects at once. Her 2012 in-
stallation “Together We Are Noone,”
a collaboration with fellow artist
Ragnheiður Maísól at Kaffistofan, used
confetti, paper crowns and childhood
toys to evoke a feeling of shared expe-
rience, remembrance and celebration.
An ambitious theatrical piece entitled
“The Void: A Family Show,” produced
as part of the Lókal festival in 2013, saw
performances and readings by her par-
ents, siblings and other relatives, cre-
ating a warmly heartfelt and humane
familial tableau, musing on the shared
but differing experience of children
leaving the nest.
Celebrating Time
“I do love the idea of celebrating time,”
Ragnheiður smiles. “We all celebrate
moments in our lives, and as we do,
we somehow bring awareness to that
very moment. Each one is special, even
the difficult ones, as without them
we wouldn't grow. In a way death is a
beautiful reminder of the joy of the mo-
ment, because as we accept our mor-
tality somehow, everything becomes
precious. We create rituals around mo-
ments, and in repeating them we medi-
tate on wonder, on time, and somehow
we collectively celebrate that we’re
alive together in that very moment.”
This understanding of shared mo-
ments extends to the idea of art as
something that’s made collaboratively,
with the artist as instigator, and the
audience’s presence as an essential ele-
ment.
“When you make something—a mo-
ment, or a performance, anything re-
ally—you do it together,” Ragnheiður
expands, “because the person who
perceives it takes it with them in their
mind, and it becomes something else—
maybe a story told over dinner or a
crown left out by a white fence. It's a
gift in some way—we're always giving
each other something—thought, ideas,
or just our presence. I love this conver-
sation between the viewer and the piec-
es, because the viewer gives you just as
much by their presence and attention as
the artist gives to them. It's a constant
dialogue.”
Dancing Planes
One particularly ambitious such con-
versation will close the 2014 edition
of the Reykjavík Arts Festival, when
two airplanes take to the sky to create
a memorable spectacle entitled “Flight
Trails.” The airborne performance is
scheduled to happen over Kollafjörður
by Sæbraut between June 2 and 5,
weather-permitting.
“I got the idea for this when I was
studying the so-called ‘Songlines,’”
Ragnheiður says. “Have you heard
of these? They’re invisibles lines the
Aboriginals in
Australia use to
map the country.
Within their belief
system they’re also
called dreaming
tracks. The paths
reach across the
whole country, or
sometimes even
the sky, and mark
the route followed
by localist "creator-
beings" during
the "Dreaming."
They are used for
navigation, as the
paths are recorded
in song, stories and
dance. Somewhere
I read that they
were also a way of
the people for dealing with sorrow or
grief. They become a sort of meditation
of repetition, of song and walking.”
To reflect the idea that something
needs to be expressed to be cognised,
the performance also incorporates an
aural element via the simultaneous
broadcast of the Katla choir, live on the
RÁS 1 radio station.
“Just as we can think of a thing, we
need a word to really
see it,” Ragnheiður
says. “Like that story
of the Native Ameri-
cans who couldn't see
a ship, because they
had never seen some-
thing like that before,
and so they called it a
cloud—they lacked
a word to know it
by. So the “Flight
Trails” will be sung
into existence, at the
same time they’re
drawn. The lines the
airplanes will make
imagine what the
God particle sounds
like—an extremely
beautiful and femi-
nine form, wavy like
the sea, flowing like the wind. We will
never see the whole of the drawing be-
cause the wind will take it and create
its own wave, and the smoke will disap-
pear. What we’ll see is a constant work
in progress, as everything is in a way—a
constant flow, in constant shift. It will
be a kind of dance by two airplanes—a
conversation about the unknown, and a
dance to celebrate just that.”
Deciding on a finale for a festival whose theme is ‘art
as a living process’ must have been something of a
challenge. What could be a fitting work that’s at once
suitably celebratory and attention-grabbing, and yet
ephemeral, temporary or open-ended?
Blue Sky
Thinking
Ragnheiður Harpa Leifsdóttir
ushers her dreams into existence
Words by John Rogers
Photo provided by Reykjvík Art Festival
“What we’ll see is a con-
stant work in progress,
as everything is in a
way—a constant flow, in
constant shift.”
INFO
Flight Trails can only be per-
formed under particular weather
conditions, its performance may
take place between the 2nd and
5th June.
7The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 06 — 2014