Projects
she has something on her mind
Footprint Performance Art started as a project where I wanted to seek for new ways of artistic communication.
I wanted to find out what I am made of, and how I could express my story.
I`m carrying my ancestors knowledge in my body, and I want to develop a new language, a bridge between old and new times.
I have been running Stella Polaris life theatre together with my husband since 1985.
This work has teached me how to deal with a lot of people and big projects, and I had many magic experiences and journeys with Stella.
After all this years of serving other people, and at the same time cared for my three beautiful children,I realized that the time had come to go deeper in my own stuff.
I started to connect with people in the visual artist area, with photographers , film makers, musicians and people who inspired me to open new doors and go into new areas of LifeArt expressions.
I want my Art to be real and honest, and this leads me into unknown areas where I put myself in vulnerable situations.
Life teach me every day how to deal with that without loosing my mind.
I seek to find out how to make art where people can identify their own pain points, and at the same time find their inner power to heal and learn.
“Returning home” - a film
by Andreas Strand Renberg and Merete Klingen
2020
In October 2020 Andreas Strand Renberg and me went to Gudbrandsdalen, where i have my roots, for a reseach.
I had collaborated with Andreas for many years both in Stella Polaris, and in the first Footprint performance in Sandefjord Kunstforening in 2018.
Our first stop was Ringebu were we made film and photos in the old stave church conecting with the ansestors.
Then we went to Lesjaverk and stayed there for ten days in my familys cottage from the 18th century.
We visited my relatives and got a lot of stories, we were hiking in the mountain, recorded sounds from the nature, made music in the imrpoviced studio in the cottage
Andreas took a lot of beautiful photos and we shooted sceenes for the film. You can see the 20 minutes movie and some photos at the web Gallery.
The film “Returning home” had premiere in December 2020, and has been showed in festivals and events in Norway, Polen and Denmark.
Usually I connect the film with a performance , but it can also be showed separatly.
The cooperation with Andreas was so joyful , and easy going, and we always understand what we wanted in the process.
Unfortunately Andreas passed away 30th of December 2022 after a long disease.
I will always miss Andreas, and our journey to Gudbrandsdalen is a treasure saved in my heart.
Stunts
Corona crown performance
As a reaction to the lockdown during the pandemic, I made several stunts with my performance character “Anne”. Anne brought her wagon full of props, feathers, mirror pieces , stones and flowers, and shared poems and songs, and talked with people. Sometimes she just sat still in roundabouts or other places, knitting her threads of fate.
The Y block performance
I made stunts with “Anne” in front of the Y block to direct focus on the goverment wanting to tear down this cultural treasure. There were also other artists and a group of people who wanted to preserve this building in Oslo centrum, making different actions in the spring of 2020. The architect of the Y block was Erling Viksjø , and he had been collaborating with Pablo Picasso who had designed one of the walls on the building with his art. The Y block was the building that the terrorist bombed down in the terror action in 2011. So the building represented a symbol of democracy and freedom. Unfortunately we didn`t manage to stop the demolition.
Pilgrimage performance 2019
In september 2019 I was a part of a pilgrimage from Nøtterøy church to the Michaels church ruins at the medevial Castle hill in Tønsberg.
I used my ancestors knowledge about nature to go into the topic of the lack of ecologic balance in our time.
The stage was in the middle of a natural cathedral of beech forest, and the pilgrims took part in my ritual on their journey.
This was a collaburation with the priest in Tønsberg cathedral , Jan Terje Christoffersen, and a part of a Art in churches programme called “Peregrinus”.
The connection with nature and the audience in this project showed me that I was on the right track, and I will for sure continue to develope gratitude events to Mother Earth.
Sandefjord art gallery performance 2018
This was the first Footprint Performance Art project I did.
I applied for an exibition in Sandefjord Kunstforening in 2015. My application came through, and then I realiced that I had to to go far out of the comfort sone to make this project great both for me, and for the audience.
I collaborated with Tollef Thorsnes , a visual artist making beautiful wood work and sculptures. He should hav an exibition in the room next to me.
I also worked with Ida Nove Cannon, also a visual artist specialiced on working with ice.
They were both imortant coaches for me going into a Art gallery without experience of visual art.
I also had a lot of talks with Kari Berge the daily leader of Sandefjord kunstforening during the process. I`m so greatful for her patient support and coaching!
I made music together with Andreas Strand Renberg, Gabriel klingen Borg and Lars Fredrik Beckstrøm for the performance.
The premiere weekend there were live music, and later it was taped music with Gabriel on guitar live.
Sara Guldmyr and Daniel Klingen Borg made films for the installation.
Bjørn Kamfjord helped me to montage the technique in the installation.
The installation involved objects , photos, film and music. A room for going into my ancestors nine generation on my mothers side.
Every weekend I had a performance with tekst, song and music to make my grandmothers alive.
Ta audience came close both physically, emotionally and spiritually to the topic, and I got a lot of stories from the audience which I used for developing my project.
I made a bound fire outside after every performance, I got the oportunity to connect with people.
Here is a text in norwegian from the project programme :
Jeg har sett på rekken av formødre ni generasjoner bakover på morssiden for å undersøke hva jeg er laget av. Jeg har gått tilbake i min barndoms rike for å hente opp igjen leken, og inn i tidligere liv for å forstå meg selv bedre.
Jo mer jeg går innover og bakover, desto sterkere følelse får jeg av å være en del av en uendelig rekke av liv og erfaring.
Mitt første barnebarn kom til verden i 2017, og viste meg dette enda tydeligere. Vi er alle en del av livsveven og våre tanker og handlinger er impulser som påvirker uansett hvor store eller små de er.
Jeg ønsker selvsagt at mitt bidrag skal gjøre verden til et bedre sted, og meg til et bedre menneske. En slik prosess, krever at jeg er villig til å gå inn i egne smertepunkter, og se på historikk og gamle mønstre som stopper meg i min søken etter et liv i tillit, kjærlighet og frihet. Jeg ville i dette prosjektet undersøke muligheter til fornyelse og helbredelse gjennom en kunstnerisk prosess.
Jeg har gått inn på en ny arena for å gjøre noe jeg aldri har gjort før. En slags ”Pippistrategi” som kan vise meg nye måter å være i verden på, vekke sovende gener, og endre mitt DNA. Jeg ville se hva som skjer med meg som menneske og scenekunstner når jeg jobber i et kunstgalleri med vekt på visuelle virkemidler.
Billedkunstnerne Tollef Thorsnes og Ida Nove Cannon har vist meg nye måter å se rom i samspill med innhold. De har vært tålmodige lyttere, og kommet med verdifulle bidrag.
Jeg har hatt mange mennesker rundt meg som har støttet meg og utfordret meg faglig og menneskelig i denne prosessen. Jeg har vært livredd, usikker, ensom og full av tvil. Og innimellom har jeg hatt tro på at jeg hadde noe å komme med.
Jeg har gått inn i min egen historie, løftet på noen steiner, ommøblert i støvete rom, sortert, ryddet og vasket i bortgjemte kroker. Det er en langsom reise som hele tiden gir nye innsikter og overraskelser.
”Speilbitene ligger i knokkelstøvet og viser meg at erfaringene allerede er gjort. Sovende instinkter våkner til liv”.