Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.06.2019, Síða 36

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Lego Flamb And
The Hum Of Life
Bergur Thomas Anderson recorded matches
hitting water for his curious new exhibition
Words & Photo: Berglind Jóna Hlynsdóttir
Exhibition
See the exhibition at Harbinger,
Freyjugata 1, until June 23rd. Get
more info at berguranderson.info
There is a strange, low-key, poetic
humour in the subtle ceramic ele-
ments and sonic environment of
Bergur Thomas Anderson’s instal-
lation, ‘The One and Only Body of
The Hum & Lego Flamb.’ Currently
showing at the Harbinger gallery,
it’s an investigation of the friction
between making sound and listen-
ing, bound together with hay, like
traces lost during harvest.
Bergur is a Rotterdam-based
visual artist and bass player. “I had
a very quiet artistic practice before
I moved to the Netherlands,” he
says. “I made music with all these
people, then, when I was alone,
visual arts became a very solitary
practice.”
Ominous figure
In his new show, we see how these
fields have grown closer. The Hum
is a spatial and sonic character
that manifests Bergur’s interest
in city soundscapes and noise pol-
lution. “It’s an ominous figure who
doesn’t really have a representa-
tional form,” he explains. “He is
the persona that performs the
sounds that surround our daily
living. This presence that makes
sounds that we don’t always hear
but we always feel.”
Slippery representation
Lego Flamb, on the other hand,
is a listener. The storyline begins
when he “notices or wakes up to a
Hum he hasn’t heard before,” Ber-
gur explains. “So he goes outside
with a recording device to find and
investigate this new
humming sound.”
Flamb also likes to
camouflage himself
into the environment.
“I’m intrigued by these
practices that tend to
mimic real life situ-
ations,” says Bergur,
“and the effort it takes to go unno-
ticed.” He is interested in slippery
representation; his characters
blend in and don’t want to be seen.
Malfunction in another
part of town
The exhibition’s sound comes
and goes, mixed withbits of di-
alogue, field recordings and vo-
cal improvisations, made with
Pétur Eggertsson. In the small
sculptures, we see a part of Lego
Flamb’s appearance before full
camouf lage mode; nametags,
a knee that provides direction;
fragments of petrified sounds by
Hum, like in ‘Burrrrrr’ or blowing
a raspberry, which is meant to be
disruptive. “When it’s applied to
someone who is providing a city’s
audio ambiance,” says Bergur,
“it’s like realising there’s some
kind of malfunction in another
part of town.”
He collaborated with design-
er Karen Wang on a curtain and
camouflage costume on which
both characters are woven into
one fabric. “We were trying to
approach the history and con-
cept of camouflage as this kind of
methodology of being able to put
everything under one hat,” says
Bergur, “Like if you were catego-
rising a gigantic mess and you just
put it all in one box and say, ‘Okay
that’s sorted.’”
Tiny little pool
The costume allows him to em-
body and narrate the story of the
characters meeting.
In this performance,
Berg u r a l so an i-
mates some of the
objects, like a tiny
little pool, which
“is Lego Flamb’s fa-
vorite spot to record
matches hitting wa-
ter.”
Bergur’s work is clearly on
an interesting trajectory, with a
strange and playful curiosity in
the backdrop, sounds and ges-
tures.
‘The One and Only Body of The
Hum & Lego Flamb’ is fifth show
in the ‘Slow and Romantic’ exhi-
bition series. It followed Sigrún
Gyða Sveinsdóttir’s fantastic op-
era workshop. Next up is Rúnar
Örn Marínósson’s workshop on
gestures on June 22nd. You can
also see Bergur perform at Mengi
with Ash Kilmartin this August.
Art
“I’m intrigued
by the effort
it takes to go
unnoticed.”
Bergur Thomas could be in your hedge and you wouldn't know
i8 Gallery
Tryggvagata 16
101 Reykjavík
info@i8.is
t: +354 551 3666
www.i8.is
6 June - 12 August 2019
B.INGRID OLSON
Fingered Eyed
VISIT KÓPAVOGUR
CULTURE HOUSES
AND EXPERIENCE

OUTLINE
06.04.–08.09.19
&
MENNINGARHUSIN.
K O P A V O G U R . I S
Hamraborg 4–6 Kópavogur Bus 1, 2, 4, 28, 35 & 36
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MANY FACES
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& MORE
Salurinn Concert Hall
Bókasafn Kópavogs Kópavogur Public Library