A Spoken Silence
a conversation between Ida Ferdinand who resides in Denmark
+ Victoria Arriola who resides both in California and Denmark
In September 2021, we met at Kunstbiblioteket in Copenhagen to ponder our joint installation and their cellar where we were to exhibit. Normally, a cellar is the place where one goes when something needs to be brought out of storage. It can also be a very eery hidden space, filled with stories we hardly remember or no longer relate to – ruins in the making. It is often where the water pipes and heating are installed and garbage is stored. These characteristics spoke to our subconscious and informed our joint project. We decided that the installation should be site specific – work that felt as if it was an integral part of the space in which it was to inhabit. We listened to each other and the space. A respectful dialog and installation slowly evolved, becoming one with the inner world of the cellar.
Our art has certain cornerstones in common. We are drawn to movement, flow, environment, and nature which enlighten, transform and inspire our work. While Ida has developed her practice around colors, patterns and space, Victoria focuses on decay as archeological digs found in both urban and natural landscapes utilizing inherent monochromatic color and systems which often reference societal practices.
In April 2022 we met on the island of Møn – where Ida now lives and where Victoria
has experienced many life changes.
We decided to integrate elements from Møn with the existing elements of the cellar. We combined natural materials and video footage inspired by local nature, shadows, reflections, texture, color, ambient light, decay and mold…elements that represented time.
Ida’s video installation, Grønsund, examines the flux and flow of the water along the shorelines of Møn. She captures the reflections on the water’s surfaces which mirror the sky as it changes with time, the seasons, and the weather. She documents the patterns and rhythms of algae as it flows within the movement of the sea. The result is a video loop that when projected into the Kuntsbiblioteket’s niche appears beyond the perception of water, walls, image and becomes a new reality, yet connected to Grønsund.
Victoria’s “Faint Murmurings” focuses on the flow of a larger, resilient, and unified conversation. Her layered panels suspended from the ceiling, were assembled using every day, used teabags collected from family and friends from around the world. A type of “palimpsests” – reused or altered objects which still bear visible traces of their earlier forms, representing passages of time. The moss below was collected directly from the shores of Møn – symbolizing the anchored connection to the island on which the concept emerged.
The results give the cellar a new life – a poetic voice – impossible to silence.
Victoria Arriola: Faint Murmurings, an installation with used tea bag panels.
Ida Ferdinand: Grønsund, a video installation.
Victoria Arriola: Faint Murmurings, en installation med brugte teposepaneler.
Ida Ferdinand: Grønsund, en video installation.
