Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.09.2017, Side 40

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An Opal Universe
Dodda Maggý connects sound and vision
to make dreams into reality
Words: John Rogers Photo: Art Bicnick
A circle of icy spheres swirl across
a dark wall in BERG Contempo-
rary. They dance in unison to a
series of piano chords, spinning
in orbit and sometimes forming
patterns, falling into sync before
cascading out of order once more
only to coincide differently mo-
ments later. It’s a hypnotic motion
that brings to mind an army of
pale moons cast in a cosmic bal-
let, or the mathematical swirl of
electrons circling atoms, or the
mesmerising patterned formation
of sand on a Chladni plate.
The artist and composer be-
hind the work is Dodda Maggý,
who explains, somewhat surpris-
ingly, that the animation, ‘Étude
Op. 88, No. 1’ (2017), was created by
hand rather than with a comput-
er-generated algorithm. “They’re
opals that I scanned,” says Dod-
da. “I don’t work with computer
generated imagery, but I do use a
computer. It’s a basic animation
technique—I’ve developed my own
way of working, over the years.”
Deep core
The work on view in the exhibi-
tion, which is entitled ‘Variations,’
has been two years in the making,
but the process of researching the
relationship between sound and
music started much earlier. “My
background is in music,” explains
Dodda. “I entered the visual arts
after that. When I went into art
school, I wasn’t sure whether
to study composition or visual
arts—but in visual arts I felt that
I could do both. Then I went back
to study composition again.”
Dodda’s studies led to a se-
r ies of a n i mat ion s ent it led
‘DeCore’—a colourful, psychedel-
ic presentation that’s exhibited
alongside the icy dance of the ex-
hibition’s centrepiece, ‘Étude Op.
88, No. 1.’
“I was exploring techniques
used in sound design, and apply-
ing them to video, working with
synaesthesia,” she explains. “I
was interested in visualisations
of sound, and what the links are.
What I discovered is that the link
is proportion—that you can link
visual proportions with those
found in music. Intervals in mu-
sic are the proportion of space
between the notes.”
Materialising the
internal
Dodda has a wide palette of ref-
erences ranging from the loosely
strung avant-garde Visual Mu-
sic movement of the 20th Cen-
tury, through to the animated
compositions of John Whitney.
But as well as further develop-
ing existing ideas and methods,
and carrying out her own orig-
inal research, Dodda’s work is
often conceived using personal
elements.
“What I do as an artist is ma-
terialising internal experience,”
she explains. “You can approach
my work very formally, or senso-
rily, or personally. For example,
‘Étude Op. 88, No. 1.’ comes from
a dream. I sensed that somebody
had picked me up from earth and
took me into a black space. There
were fire opals there, growing in
the darkness. They told me that
these opals have frequencies.
And then I woke up.”
The resulting animations,
and the series of framed stills
gleaned from them, form an in-
triguing entry point into Dod-
da’s audio-visual practise. Even
though the ‘Variations’ exhibi-
tion has just opened, she’s al-
ready thin k ing a head to her
next show—a solo exhibition at
the prestigious ARoS Museum
in Aarhus, Denmark. “When it
rains, it pours,” smiles Dodda,
heading back to her studio, and
her rich internal world.
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Tryggvagata 16
101 Reykjavík
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t: +354 551 3666
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