YOUNG WILD ROLLAND
RESTRICTED MOVEMENT
20.05 - 02.07 2023
You enter a room and hear someone running past you on the right. You move around the room. To the left above your head, heavy breathing is heard, which decreases in intensity and then returns diagonally to the right ten meters away from you. The running resumes, now to the left. From above behind you, indefinable sounds of bodies crawling or being dragged across a surface arise, this sound is spread throughout the room. The running footsteps have ended in a body falling ... then getting up ...
Such a spatial organism of sound and the smell of rubber will meet you at Trafo Kunsthall during Yngvild K. Rolland's exhibition Restricted Movements .
The works in the art hall reflect Rolland's reflection on concepts such as movement and control through an eight-channel sound installation, text and sculpture. For the exhibition, the artist has collaborated with Nagelhus Schia Productions and their dancers. This has resulted in her also trying out new techniques and materials, including rubber. The sound installation Rehearsal for a New Movement is composed of dancers' movements. By removing the physical body, the sounds alone form the composition, reflecting a reality that seamlessly moves between the real and the virtual. In this context, the word 'Movement' plays on different strings, from the dancer's power and the outer limits of mobility, to political movement to achieve social change. When designing the sound work, it has been important for Rolland to highlight both the recognizable and undefinable aspects of the sound of movement, and at the same time create parts where the movements can express a narrative or almost become music in themselves.
Central to Rolland's practice is the connection with other art forms such as music, and now dance. Over time, she has used the musical instrument as a material in works where sound is absent, to emphasize its physical properties. This way of working with reduction, absence and contradictions is characteristic of Rolland's work. In her practice, there is a constant shift of perspective on what is seen and what is heard, history and future, performer and viewer.
In Restricted Movements, Rolland has similarly removed the meaningful physical body from the dance, where the sound of the movements remains, vibrating from various places in the space. Fascinated by the dancers' rubber mats, which in their studio are full of abstract marks from movements, the artist has shaped a sculptural work with words that describe these movements, Run & Bend, Fall & Rise. Words with a number of possible associations, also to the fact that freedom of movement is not given.
Yngvild K. Rolland is educated at Camberwell College of Arts in London and the Oslo School of Arts and Crafts, and has had extended stays in New York and Paris. Her practice includes permanent and temporary public art projects, audiovisual collaborations and publications. Yngvild K. Rolland's work has been shown in galleries, museums and music festivals in Norway, the USA, Brazil, Poland, France, Germany and Spain, Italy and Sweden. Previous solo exhibitions include Lydgalleriet in Bergen (2021), Deichman Bjørvika (2021), 222T in Oslo (2020), Ultimafestivalen in Oslo (2016), Østfold Kunstnersenter in Fredrikstad (2014), Naxal Belt in New York City (2012), Akershus Kunstsenter in Lillestrøm (2010). She has participated in group exhibitions at, among others, the Kunstmuseet Nord-Trøndelag, Trondheim, NY Art Book Fair / MoMA PS1, New York, Galleri 0047 in Oslo, Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, Grimmuseum in Berlin, Point Ephémère (Hot Desking/Manifesta 7) in Paris and Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw. Rolland has been acquired by several public and private collections. Among others, Viken fylkeskommune , Westland fylkeskommune and Sandnes municipality.
Finissage :
RESTRICTED MOVEMENT
Photo: Tor S. Ulstein
JUNE 30, 2023 AT 6:00 PM
The final opening weekend for Yngvild Rolland's solo exhibition RESTRICTED MOVEMENTS is marked with finissage Friday, June 30th from 6 p.m.
There will be light refreshments and the artist will be present. Welcome!
MEADOW:
You enter a room and hear someone running past you on your right. You move around to the left, above your head heavy breathing appears and fades out, only to return diagonally to your right. The breathing escalates to occupy the entire space, then stops. From above, hands are scratching a surface and the running resumes. Behind you, crawling bodies emerge in a rhythmic pattern, then transforming into obscure sounds of bodies that are rolling through the space or being dragged across a surface. The running steps become a falling body... a body falling, then rising...
An equivalent spatial organism of sound and the smell of rubber will meet you at Trafo Kunsthall during Yngvild K. Rolland's exhibition, Restricted Movements .
The works exhibited in the gallery mirror Rolland's reflection on concepts such as movement and control. In this context, the artist has collaborated with Nagelhus Schia Productions and their dancers, which resulted in a 15-metre-long piece in rubber titled "Leave no Bone Unturned" and the 8-channel sound installation "Rehearsal for a New Movement."
Frequent in Yngvild K. Rolland's practice is the connection with other art forms like music, film, and now dance. In Restricted Movements, both musical instruments and performers acquire material qualities. One example is the sculptural installation "Volatile Structures" in which 30 plaster casts of snare drums are stacked and spread around the space. On one hand, the work resembles architectural forms and reflects the constant "building up and tearing down" of different systems and structures that surround us. On the other hand, the scattered objects can also be experienced as a maneuver that forces the spectator to move in specific patterns around the exhibition space.
Rolland's ongoing investigation of the relationship between sound and form, in which she often uses found materials, also explores an absence, such as the deliberate absence of sound in works that allude to musical instruments. In her 8-channel sound piece "Rehearsal for a New Movement," she has similarly removed the human body from the dance performance, reflecting a reality that seamlessly moves between the real and the virtual. Without the physical body, only the sound of movement remains, vibrating from various places in the room.
To make "Rehearsal for a New Movement," the artists recorded dancers in the studio of Nagelhus Schia Productions. Composing the sound piece, it was important for her to highlight both the recognizable and indefinable aspects of these sounds, and at the same time create parts where the sound of movement could express a narrative or almost become music in itself. Just as the strings of an instrument produce nuanced tones, the word "Movement" in the title resonates with various connotations - ranging from the power of dancers and the outer limits of human mobility to political movements aimed at achieving societal change.
While researching and recording dancers in their studio, Rolland became fascinated with the rubber surface on which they moved. The studio floor was covered with abstract marks creating a mesh of curved and straight lines. Yngvild K. Rolland responded to this chaotic pattern in "Leave no Bone Unturned," a 15-meter-long work in rubber in which words that describe movements such as "Turn," "Bend," "Fall & Rise" are partially cut out. Used in different contexts, these action verbs have various meanings and interpretations, also due to the fact that freedom of movement is not given.
Yngvild Kingren Rolland (b. 1977) lives and works in Oslo, with past residencies in New York and Paris. She has a bachelor's degree from Camberwell College of Arts in London and a Master's degree from Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Rolland's conceptual practice incorporates a wide variety of visual media and sound in works that include collaborations, printed matter and public installations. Her works have been shown nationally and internationally in galleries, museums, music and video festivals in Norway, Sweden, USA, UK, France, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and Brazil. Selected previous exhibitions include Lydgalleriet in Bergen, Deichman Bjørvika in Oslo, Ultima, Oslo Contemporary Music Festival, Kunstmuseet Nord-Trøndelag in Trondheim, NY Art Book Fair / MoMA PS1 in New York, Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, Grimmuseum in Berlin, Point Ephémère (Hot Desking/Manifesta 7) in Paris and Zacheta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw. Her work is represented in private and public collections, such as Viken county municipality, Vestland county municipality and Sandnes municipality.
The exhibition has received funding by
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