Mariam Ghani + Erin Ellen Kelly
Rogaland Kunstsenter, Stavanger
8.5.-29.6.14
Video art from collaborations between Mariam Ghani and Erin Ellen Kelly, curated by Amy Mackie
I am confused. These days the video art center Kinokino presents a local artist, and the local artists owned Rogaland Kunstsenter presents video art. And entering the gallery space of RKS I get utterly confused. The former open space has been transformed into a labyrinth of projection rooms, showing seven different videos by Mariam Ghani and Erin Ellen Kelly. One video is a commissioned piece for this exhibition, shot on locations in Rogaland.
Exhibition view
In general, the videos show different land- and cityscapes, with people in choreographed movements, including a sound background. One video show a woman coming towards us in a white desert, another people moving in and out of a forest, there are juxtapozes of nature and castles, mythical creatures in Norwegian landscapes, a bombed ruin and a cultural building, and people in an urban setting.
What moves me most are the videos "A Brief History of Collapses" and "Like Water From a Stone":
A Brief History of Collapses
Two screens show videos shot in a destroyed palace in Kabul and a museum in Kassel, and a voice is reading a text about these buildings. Both buildings crave your attention, as the narrative also does. My mind keeps jumping from one screen to another, interrupted by listening to the text, making it a joint story of two totally different ones.
Like Water From a Stone
In this video scenes are shot in different parts of Rogaland. From rural landscapes with fjords, mountain farms and rocky beaches to graffiti and construction work in urban landscapes. Suddenly I notice some movement in some scenes, and discover that there are somebody there, but not in all scenes. I start expecting somebody to appear in each scene, trying to guess where they will appear. I am rediscovering the Norwegian landscape through the eyes of the artists.
Like Water From a Stone
