I forsommeren dannede Radar rammen om kunstnerresidencet House for Homeless Grief – et tværkunstnerisk projekt, der undersøger sorg som en fælles menneskelig erfaring og skaber et rum for det, der ofte mangler plads til i vores samtid.

English below

Over tre uger udviklede kunstnerne Katrine Faber og Liene Jurgelāne sammen med et internationalt hold en sanselig installation, hvor lyd, musik, performance, ritualer, video og levende planter smeltede sammen i et midlertidigt hus for den "hjemløse" sorg.

Værket havde premiere under ROOTED Festival og her inviterede de publikum ind til at opleve, dele og reflektere over både personlige og kollektive tab. I dette interview fortæller Katrine Faber og Liene Jurgelāne om processen på Radar, om at skabe kunst med omsorg som metode, og om, hvorfor der er brug for modige fælles rum til sorg netop nu.

Hvordan har det været for jer at arbejde på Radar?

– Det har været helt fantastisk at arbejde på Radar! Vi har sat stor pris på den varme og imødekommende atmosfære samt den omsorgsfulde måde, vi og vores arbejde er blevet taget imod på. Det har været et trygt og støttende arbejdsmiljø, hvilket er afgørende, når man undersøger nye kunstneriske landskaber. Vi er meget taknemmelige for at have fået denne mulighed på Radar og for at have oplevet en så omsorgsfuld arbejdskultur.

Har jeres projekt ændret sig eller udviklet sig under residenciet?

– Vores projekt House For Homeless Grief blev faktisk født på Radar. De tre uger på Radar var det første skridt ind i et kunstnerisk arbejde, som vi vil fortsætte med at åbne, udvikle og udforske i de kommende år. Vi er meget glade for, hvordan visionen udviklede sig til sin første konkrete form gennem rum, lyd og performance.

– Vi skabte en stemningsfuld video-, lyd- og skulpturel installation, hvor rummet blev forvandlet til et skovlandskab med pileflet-reder, der duftede af skov, og cedertræshuler, som publikum kunne træde ind i. Derudover skabte vi mindre tableauer med vand, planter, tekster og sten, hvor besøgende kunne deltage i små handlinger og ritualer knyttet til sorg.

– Når der ikke var liveperformances, fungerede rummet som en åben lydinstallation. Vi gennemførte ni liveperformances – hver af dem forskellig – med medvirken fra seks internationale performere og et grædekor bestående af tolv lokale deltagere i forskellige aldre og køn. Installationen og forestillingerne blev besøgt af mange mennesker, som reagerede med stor varme og blev dybt berørt.

Hvad var jeres mission eller intention med projektet? 

– Vi ønskede at skabe et rum, der kunne give plads til nogle af de mere smertefulde aspekter af det at være menneske. Vores sorger – både personlige og kollektive – blev tidligere ofte båret i fællesskabet, men i mange nutidige kulturer findes der næsten ingen plads til dem.

– Vi ønskede at undersøge, hvad der bliver muligt, når mennesker inviteres til at ære deres sorg gennem musik, kunst, ritualer, fortællinger, sanselige oplevelser, fællesskab og forbindelsen til planter. Vi var særligt interesserede i at udforske samspillet mellem musikalske og kropslige udtryk og et rum fyldt med planter – og hvordan lyd, stemme, duft og et mere-end-menneskeligt miljø kan skabe forbindelser mellem menneskers kroppe og sjæle.

– Kan kunsten hjælpe os med at genetablere forbindelsen til verden og til os selv i et fælles rum – en forbindelse, som vi tilsyneladende har mistet? Kan et sådant rum have særlig betydning i tider præget af kollektive kriser? Vi ønskede at skabe et kunstværk, der er levende, åndende og i dialog med den tid, det eksisterer i – et værk, der kan udvikle sig og tilpasse sig over tid.

Hvad har residency-formatet og jeres tid på Radar gjort muligt kunstnerisk, som ville have været svært at opnå i en anden sammenhæng?

– Vi kom til residenciet med en kurv fuld af forskellige idéer til, hvordan projektet kunne tage form. Den omsorg, støtte, tid og plads, vi fik til at udforske dem, gjorde det muligt for projektet at udvikle sig til et sammenhængende kunstværk – både som installation og som en serie af performative ritualer. At have adgang til et fysisk rum, hvor vi kunne lege, eksperimentere og afprøve idéer, var uvurderligt. Det gav os mulighed for at udvikle alle værkets elementer gennem leg og praktisk afprøvning. At kunne arbejde på denne åbne og undersøgende måde er en stor gave.

– Værket ville heller ikke have været det samme uden den omsorgsfulde tekniske støtte, vi modtog fra hele teamet – og særligt fra Rolf. De tekniske elementer, såsom videoprojektioner, lyssætning, lydoptagelser til installationen og lydopsætningen til liveperformances, fungerede gnidningsfrit. Det er områder, som normalt kan give selvproducerende kunstnere mange bekymringer og meget stress. At alt dette fungerede så godt, gav os mulighed for at fokusere på værkets indhold, relationerne og det at holde rummet gennem vores kunst. Det var uvurderligt.

Hvad tager I med jer fra mødet mellem værket, publikum og den proces, I har været igennem her?

– Hele denne proces har berørt os dybt. Og vi føler samtidig, at det kun er begyndelsen. At åbne House For Homeless Grief for publikum under ROOTED Festival viste os, hvor stort et behov der er for dette projekt – både kunstnerisk og menneskeligt. I løbet af festivalens to dage gennemførte vi ni unikke liveperformances. Nogle publikummer kom til næsten dem alle. Efter hver performance oplevede vi, at folk ikke havde lyst til at forlade rummet. Der var en gennemgående ømhed og stor taknemmelighed blandt publikum. Mange vendte tilbage igen og igen – også blot for at opholde sig i installationen.

– Residenciet skabte også rammerne for, at Danmarks første grædekor kunne opstå. Det er et arbejde, vi ønsker at fortsætte, fordi både deltagerne i koret og de mennesker, de skabte rum for, oplevede det som meget værdifuldt.

– Det, vi tager med os, er en stærk oplevelse af, at der findes plads til modig kunst, som inviterer os til at mærke følelserne sammen. Og at en omsorgsfuld arbejdsproces er guld værd. Tusind tak for denne mulighed.

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WHEN GRIEF FOUND A HOME: An Interview with the Artists Behind House for Homeless Grief

In early summer, Radar hosted the artistic residency House for Homeless Grief – an interdisciplinary project exploring grief as a shared human experience and creating space for emotions that often have no place in contemporary society.

Over the course of three weeks, artists Katrine Faber and Liene Jurgelāne, together with an international team, developed an immersive installation in which sound, music, performance, ritual, video, and living plants merged into a temporary home for "homeless" grief.

The work premiered during ROOTED Festival, inviting audiences to experience, share, and reflect on both personal and collective loss. In this interview, Katrine Faber and Liene Jurgelāne reflect on their residency at Radar, on care as an artistic methodology, and on why there is an urgent need for courageous communal spaces for grief today.

What has it been like for you to work at Radar?

– It has been absolutely wonderful to work at Radar! We highly appreciate the warm and welcoming atmosphere and the careful reception of us and our work. It was a very safe and supporting environment to work within, which is very important, when you are researching new artistic landscapes. We feel very grateful to have had this opportunity at Radar and experience such a caring work culture.

Has your project changed or evolved during the residency? 

– Our project House For Homeless Grief had its birth-moment at Radar! The three weeks at Radar was the first step into an artistic work that we will open, expand and explore through the next coming years. And we are very happy for the development of the vision into the first creation in space and sound and performing. We created a wonderful video, sound, sculptural installation in the space; transforming the space into a forest space with forest smelling willow nests and ceder caves for people to enter and smaller tableaus with water, plants, writing, stones, where people could engage in small actions and rituals regarding their grief.

– The space was an open sound installation, when there were not live performances. We did 9 live performances in the space - each one different from each other with the contribution from a group of 6 international performers and a Crying Choir consisting of 12 local people of different gender and ages. And we had a lot of visitors in the installation and to the performances and with touched and warm responses.

What was your mission or intention with the project?

– We wanted to create a space that can open space for some of the more painful aspects of being a human. Our griefs and sorrows - personal and collective - that traditionally were held in community but in most current cultures have rarely any space given to them. We wanted to see what becomes possible when we invite people to honour their grief through music, art, ritual, storytelling, sensory experience, togetherness and connection with plants. 

– We were especially interested in exploring the effect of musical and bodily expression connected to a room with plants; exploring how to create connections between human bodies and souls through sound, voice, smell and a more than human environment. Can we through art recreate our connection to the world and to ourselves in a collective space, that we seem to have lost? Can such a space be of importance in times of collective crises? We wanted to create an artwork that is alive, breathing and responds to the current time. One that can evolve and adapt over time.

What has the residency format and your time at Radar made possible for you artistically that would have been difficult to achieve in another setting?

– We came into the residency with a basket of different ideas of how the project could be and the care and support and space and time to explore them allowed the project to evolve into a coherent artwork. Both as an installation and series of performance-rituals. Having access to a physical space in which we can play, and experiment was invaluable. It literally allowed us to develop all the elements of this piece through play and trying out - an opportunity to work in such an emergent way is a big gift. 

– And this piece would not be what it was without the caring technical support we received from the team, and especially Rolf. The elements of the work that required technical support - such as videoprojections, lights that create the right atmosphere in the house, audio recording for the sound installation, live performance sound setup - things that usually bring quite a lot of headache and stress for self-producing artists - were running smoothly, and this created space and time for us to really focus on the content, connection, holding the space with our art. It was so precious. 

What will you take with you from the encounter between the work, the audience, and the process you've been through here?

We feel very touched by this whole process. And this is definitely only the beginning. Opening the House for Homeless Grief for the audience during ROOTED festival showed us how needed this project is both communally and artistically. Over the two festival days we had nine unique live performances. There were people who came to nearly all of them.

– After each of them we had the experience that people did not want to leave the space. There was so much tenderness and appreciation from the audience throughout. People came back and back again also to just be in the installation. This residency also gave the context for the first Chrying Choir in Denmark to be born and this is also work that will be continued, as it was appreciated both by the participants of the choir and the audiences they held space for. 

– What we take away is that there is definitely space for courageous art that can invite to feel the feelings together. And that a caring work process is gold. So thank you so much for this opportunity.