As an artist and landscape architect, I am interested in the perception, visualisation and transformation of space. In my artistic practice, I combine photography, multi-part installations and narratives. Researching urban, rural and social landscapes and infrastructures, their overlaps and boundaries, my projects revolve around the fragility of life, the search for the location that promises home, shelter and housing, and the eternal question whereto?
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FIELDWORK Q&A – March 2016
How is fieldwork part of your practice?
My practice combines various tools, media, and strategies. Fieldwork is the exploration of areas away from studio settings, triggered by a certain interest or question. In this digital age, access to information seems easy and quick. Fieldwork is the opposite. It links physical movement, patience, communication, and to deal with the unexpected. And this is the moment when the process becomes exciting or even the turning point of the entire concept. I might leave, even without being aware at first, with a preconceived idea and expectation, hoping to find confirmation and answers as I move along. Then, fieldwork functions as the tool of a critical questioning – What do I see?, in relation to What do I expect to see? What do I see without seeing? However, fieldwork is not just a visual method.
How would you describe your fieldwork activity?
It’s a circular method. In order to get a deeper understanding of the connection and ripple effects between society and the environment, I need to be there, in the field. I’m curious to find out why my surroundings appear and transform as they do. However, when immersed, it is difficult to take a critical step back and to reflect. Thus, I keep returning to areas of interest over the course of time and during the change of seasons.
How are you currently sharing your fieldwork?
So far, I have presented during and after fieldworks. There have been exhibitions, lectures, web-based documentations. Yet, I aim to expand the field of sharing. My fieldworks have taken me to Greenland, and currently, I am preparing a project in the Norwegian mountains. In these regions, visitor numbers are rather limited, and I try to find new ways of sharing with audiences in other locations, too. The question revolves around how to translate concepts and findings of one space to another, and to develop an adequate language to convey. Recently, I have become part of the ‘project anywhere’ network and conference to further expand the possibilities of sharing.
FIELDWORK
*coming soon*
TSOEG 