Seabound. A Logbook.

 INTRODUCTION

Norway has the second-longest coast line in the world. Yet, the mountains are never far away. I was exploring the south on Norway with Kurt Johannessen’s little books as my guide. This Norwegian performance artist has written hundreds of weird art exercises that I was carrying around in my camera bag. One instruction reads ‘Havbunnen to netter på rad’. Seabound, I thought, two nights in a row. How beautiful. That’s me! I was in the outer archipelago and was drawn to the sea all the time. Bunnen sounds like bound in Swedish. Only later I learned that in Norwegian it signifies bottom. It was too late: Kurt is talking about the seabed, but I already had my photograph in the red coat, the second night, sitting by the open sea!

Other triggers behind images in this series include 19th century paintings in Sørlandets Kunstmuseum’s collection, event scores and other references by Yoko Ono, John Baldessari, VALIE EXPORT or Geoffrey Hendricks. My trips during two years took me to different islands, to the snow, to archetypic landscapes, to a future art museum in an abandoned grain silo, and to a lighthouse in a November storm.

Seabound was commissioned by Nicolai Tangen Collection / AKO Kunststiftelse, Kristiansand, 2018-2019.

SPECIFICATIONS

Photographs: Elina Brotherus
Concept and design: Ilona Iottu, dogdesign
Hardcover in slipcase
22,5 x 28,5cm
61 photograohs (41 color plates, 20 details)
120 pages
Essays: Elina Brotherus, Nicolai Tangen, Timo Valjakka
English
Publisher: Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg, with AKO Kunststiftelse, Kristiansand, 2021.
Publication date: May 2021
ISBN: 978-3-96900-033-5