Alannah Robins (IE)
Cecilia Josefson (SE)
Bach in the water
4-27/3 2016

“Western psychology has taken out a patent on the truth. It is our time’s colonisation. It is not only the land that is colonised, but also souls.” Jens Ivar Nergård

In this exhibition, Bach’s fugue in G# minor acts as a framework for an investigation in to psychiatric care. The fugue is built on strict rules: each voice plays a part in the harmony of the whole, while maintaining its own melody and individual integrity. Josefson and Robins use this framework to explore the frictions between different voices echoing around the stark landscape of Finnmark, Northern Norway - a meeting point between the Sami population, Western colonisers and their respective approaches to health care.

This is the second joint exhibition by sound artist Cecilia Josefson and artist Alannah Robins. The pair met in Dalarna in the hot summer of 2014 on tour with Stockholm’s Electronic Music Studio. Since then, they have developed an exciting collaborative practice. In February, 2015, they exhibited in Kiruna Stadshus with Doktorn är bara bra om något ska klippas bort.

”In the research for this project we travelled to Finnmark, North Norway, a place where different visions of reality are exposed in full daylight and excoriate each other.
Our work is inspired by the Chinese composer Tan Dun whose work creates a dialogue between western music and ritual practices. He juxtaposes, for example, primitive elements like paper and water with a symphony orchestra.”

This exhibition takes us on a journey through the inside of a mute piano and hospital corridors to the desolate winter of Finnmark and the voice of the Sami shaman, Sigvald Persen.

The exhibition is supported by Culture Ireland.

www.alannahrobins.com
www.ceciliajosefson.com

Photo: Raffaele Piano