Ann-Sofi Sidén
30 Oct - 15 Dec 2007
In Passing, 2007
6 channel video installation, synchronized 2 monitors, 4 videoprojections, sound 14' (General view)
Size variable, Ed. of 5 + AP
6 channel video installation, synchronized 2 monitors, 4 videoprojections, sound 14' (General view)
Size variable, Ed. of 5 + AP
ANN-SOFI SIDÉN
"In Passing"
Galería Pepe Cobo is pleased to present the latest works by Swedish artist Ann-Sofi Sidén in Madrid next Tuesday, on the 30th of October.
In Passing (2007) is the fragmented story – told from a number of different perspectives - of a young woman who leaves her infant child in the baby hatch of a Berlin hospital. This act of desperation sets into motion a narrative following two parallel journeys, one of the orphaned child and another of its mother.
The various narrative threads that are shown as projections and on flat screens differ strongly in terms of form and atmosphere. On one wall, two large video projections depict a hospital surveillance system. Black-and-white footage, switching between views of different hospital rooms with elevated camera positions reveal the routines and the emergency care in the hospital where the child is found. On another wall, the young woman is seen wandering through the streets of Berlin in the early morning, evoking a melancholic lethargy which is also reflected in a multi-channel sound score containing the sounds of the city occasionally overtaken by the resonance of the hospital. The calm narrative flow consisting of video and interspersed still images moves right to left across the wall. The camera accompanies the protagonist at eye-level as she makes her way to the baby hatch, and afterwards as she heads off into an uncertain future.
This aspect of someone passing through a space, as well as the method of spreading the visual information across several large projection screens, is already featured in earlier works by Ann-Sofi Sidén such as 3 MPH (Horse to Rocket) (2003), which describes the artist’s slow journey on horseback through Texas, overcoming historical, social and technological hurdles and obstacles along the way. In the video installation In Passing, the space traversed by the young woman becomes a strong reflection of herself. The places shown here refer to a topography and hence to a personal biography on the periphery of society. At the same time, the “tristesse” of many of these places and the passers-by suggest the distress of someone in a situation of extreme crisis. This atmosphere is subtly evoked: the woman’s inner turmoil is represented by images of external features rather than by a direct display of emotional outbursts. The baby klappe becomes a symbol of our own existence and raises questions like where does identity start building... what is abandonment?
In terms of its form and content, this work combines a number of approaches used by Ann-Sofi Sidén in her earlier works, which often focus on people in psychological or social borderline situations. The resulting voyeuristic role taken on by the viewer is reminiscent of Who Told the Chambermaid? (1998), where the inner workings of a hotel are displayed on 17 monitors. In Passing also draws from Warte Mal! (Hey wait!, 1999), which portrayed prostitutes working in the border area between Germany and the Czech Republic. The viewer again has to move through the installation in order to comprehend the fragmented whole in its kaleidoscopic presentation, thereby playing a substantial role in the (re)construction of the narrative.
In Passing is a co-production between Galería Pepe Cobo Madrid and Galerie Barbara Thumm Berlin, where it was presented last April.
Director: Ann-Sofi Sidén.
Director of Photography: Matthias Fleischer.
Sound Score: Jonathan Bepler.
Production Design: Annett Kuhn.
Line Producer: Annett Apelt.
Editing: Paul Giangrossi.
Girl: Claire Vivianne Sobottke.
Baby: Ann Svenningsson.
Hospital Staff: Vivantes Klinikum Neukölln.
"In Passing"
Galería Pepe Cobo is pleased to present the latest works by Swedish artist Ann-Sofi Sidén in Madrid next Tuesday, on the 30th of October.
In Passing (2007) is the fragmented story – told from a number of different perspectives - of a young woman who leaves her infant child in the baby hatch of a Berlin hospital. This act of desperation sets into motion a narrative following two parallel journeys, one of the orphaned child and another of its mother.
The various narrative threads that are shown as projections and on flat screens differ strongly in terms of form and atmosphere. On one wall, two large video projections depict a hospital surveillance system. Black-and-white footage, switching between views of different hospital rooms with elevated camera positions reveal the routines and the emergency care in the hospital where the child is found. On another wall, the young woman is seen wandering through the streets of Berlin in the early morning, evoking a melancholic lethargy which is also reflected in a multi-channel sound score containing the sounds of the city occasionally overtaken by the resonance of the hospital. The calm narrative flow consisting of video and interspersed still images moves right to left across the wall. The camera accompanies the protagonist at eye-level as she makes her way to the baby hatch, and afterwards as she heads off into an uncertain future.
This aspect of someone passing through a space, as well as the method of spreading the visual information across several large projection screens, is already featured in earlier works by Ann-Sofi Sidén such as 3 MPH (Horse to Rocket) (2003), which describes the artist’s slow journey on horseback through Texas, overcoming historical, social and technological hurdles and obstacles along the way. In the video installation In Passing, the space traversed by the young woman becomes a strong reflection of herself. The places shown here refer to a topography and hence to a personal biography on the periphery of society. At the same time, the “tristesse” of many of these places and the passers-by suggest the distress of someone in a situation of extreme crisis. This atmosphere is subtly evoked: the woman’s inner turmoil is represented by images of external features rather than by a direct display of emotional outbursts. The baby klappe becomes a symbol of our own existence and raises questions like where does identity start building... what is abandonment?
In terms of its form and content, this work combines a number of approaches used by Ann-Sofi Sidén in her earlier works, which often focus on people in psychological or social borderline situations. The resulting voyeuristic role taken on by the viewer is reminiscent of Who Told the Chambermaid? (1998), where the inner workings of a hotel are displayed on 17 monitors. In Passing also draws from Warte Mal! (Hey wait!, 1999), which portrayed prostitutes working in the border area between Germany and the Czech Republic. The viewer again has to move through the installation in order to comprehend the fragmented whole in its kaleidoscopic presentation, thereby playing a substantial role in the (re)construction of the narrative.
In Passing is a co-production between Galería Pepe Cobo Madrid and Galerie Barbara Thumm Berlin, where it was presented last April.
Director: Ann-Sofi Sidén.
Director of Photography: Matthias Fleischer.
Sound Score: Jonathan Bepler.
Production Design: Annett Kuhn.
Line Producer: Annett Apelt.
Editing: Paul Giangrossi.
Girl: Claire Vivianne Sobottke.
Baby: Ann Svenningsson.
Hospital Staff: Vivantes Klinikum Neukölln.