ESSAY: ATT HÅLLA SAMMAN [TO HOLD IT TOGETHER], ABOUT SANDRA NORRBIN CATALOGUE TEXT, DIESEL NEW ART AWARD 2006, P.13, 2006, ISBN 91-631-9367-1
Att hålla samman [To Hold it Together], installation with trocellen, 2005
Much of Sandra Norrbin’s current work is constructed with the cross-linked polyolefin foam called trocellen, normally used as insulation in large structures – for instance in traffic tunnels. “I started to work with this specific industrial material by chance,” says Norrbin, who earlier had worked a lot with drawing. She continues: “I find it tremendously fascinating that this quite clinical material is able, paradoxically enough, to actually express feelings.” One thing led to another and more projects with trocellen followed. “The difference between the process of making a drawing and dealing with this large and heavy material is enormous – it is not very yielding. I was not used to this sort of resistance, and this is actually what compelled me to continue working with trocellen.” The material itself is so heavy that it is almost impossible to move it by oneself. “I wanted to overcome the material in a way, to make the impossible possible.”
Trocellen normally comes in huge rolls, and nearly all of Norrbin’s first installations made use of the material in the form in which it was delivered to her: as these huge rolls. The installation, Att hålla samman, was “born” one day as she was moving from one studio to another. Wanting the material simply to vanish, she started cutting it into smaller pieces that would be easy to transport. It ended up as a work instead, looking somewhat like a landscape that portrayed her thoughts. “The cut-up trocellen pieces were placed all over the room and the smaller pieces looked like they were trying to find their own special place by themselves into a perfect whole picture”. This experience provided a new perspective on the material as well as on her mental mapping processes. “It made me think about the idea of going into analysis; stuff falls into place and one comes to understand the reasons for things.” This is what the title of the work refers to, the process of “holding it together”.
“Many seem to think of minimalism when confronted with my work, and this is obviously a reference of which I am aware, but when I am working in my studio, I am blissfully ignorant of who in the past might have done something similar to my work.”
At the moment, Norrbin is looking forward to taking up drawing again. “The drawings I make are rarely planned. They come together more like a manifestation of some of the things I might be feeling on a particular day. Every day is unique.” This method is also at work in her installations, such as Att hålla samman: they are manifestations of feelings – but here, the feelings encompass a broader perspective than simply that of one day.
After graduating from Trondheim Academy of Fine Art in 2006, she has now begun building up the studio collective, Marienborg, together with other young Trondheim-based artists. “The art scene in Trondheim is very small, so we hope to expand it by creating a natural meeting place.”
photo:
Att hålla samman [To Hold it Together] (2005)
Sandra Norrbin.
Courtesy of the artist
© sandranorrbinrstudio trondheim