ÁSDIS BIRNA GYLFADÓTTIR
Ásdís Birna Gylfadóttir (1993) is an Icelandic artist based in the Netherlands. Inspired by opposites, feelings, nature and the contrast in all three, she mainly works with video and sound and tries to reflect her own thoughts through mixing the two mediums. Together with Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir, she is a part of the visual/audio collaboration SÚL_VAD. Their work researches the relationship and the opposition between the two mediums with video installations as well as live sound performances. Works by SÚL_VAD include Velgja, Currents in Ocean Circulation, and Ymur.
Velgja by SÚL_VAD at RASK #2:
Velgja awakes within a conversation between the subconscious and the self in a dream. It arises and offers us clues about our lives - appearing to us in various ways: an upset stomach, series of sleepless nights, endless itching and bleeding wounds. Heavy, heavy breathing. As the waves within us demand to come forward. The piece expresses the nausea of the inner life moments before the itching begins. Velgja was exhibited at RASK#2 at Ingólfsstræti 6.
icelandic conversation in multiple languages at RASK #3:
In her work 'icelandic conversation in multiple languages' she tries to visualise the distorted audio, as she interprets it, and by doing so magnifying the feeling the viewer is left with when the video ends. The audio was all recorded from her home in Enschede 12.-29. March 2020.
Other works by SÚL_VAD
Currents in Ocean Circulation, is a composition written for 13 performers and audiovisuals and was chosen for Ung Nordisk Musik Festival 2019 in Sweden. The video installation expands the visual aspects of the work by creating an oceanic world inspired by the Icelandic shore found within the poetry collection, which the composition is originally built upon. The video installation is in 7 different parts, each depicting in different ways the raw and dreamlike energy caught in water around the island. The visuals were described by composer James Black in the Seismograf as following: “[...] and a beautiful, unpretentious video of ocean movements played in reverse, that in some bizarre way complemented the guttural, rich material from the choir.”
Ymur has a strong indication to both Icelandic nature and the Icelandic language’s phonology. The visuals explore the power of elements and different forces in Icelandic landscape. It started as a video research collected in the summer of 2018 and then evolved as they started collaborating and bouncing off of each others material. The electronics disguise as nature sounds while the visuals are originally filmed in nature but sometimes seem to be machine-like. The vocal performance by Erla is heavily influenced by her research of the deconstruction of phonology, combined with improvisation and sound poetry. It is an ever changing piece, changing each time it is performed, depending on the place and time. Ymur was performed at the European audio & art exhibition Tut Töt Tuð in Grand Theater Groningen, The Netherlands.
