Utstillingstekst Klangrum Møn
Morten Søndergaard, 2014
(Original Danish version, English translation below)
HC Giljes værk 7 cirkler blev egentlig til på opfordring: Da jeg i 2011 stod overfor at skulle kuratere den skandinaviske sektion af udstillingen Sound Art på ZKM | Karlsruhe (marts 2012- januar 2013) spurgte jeg HC om han kendte den danske elektroakustiske komponist Else Marie Pade - og om han kunne tænke sig at arbejde med værket 7 cirkler som Pade komponerede i 1958-59. Pade fremførte fremdeles 7 cirkler på POEX65 København, og dette var den direkte grund til min forespørgsel, der, som led i min (kuratoriske) strategi, gik ud på at bede unge kunstnere om at re-enacte de oprindelige kunstners værker - alle udvalgt fra POEX65, som fandt sted december 1965. Der var ikke lang betænkningstid hos Gilje - Pade var et overordentligt godt match (og vigtigt nyt bekendtskab), og 7 cirkler et perfekt værk at arbejde med indenfor det processuelle elektron-visualiserede lyd-univers Gilje selv mestrer til perfektion.
To genier indenfor hver deres felt, krydser således spor, og værket skulle derfor måske rettelig hedde 7x7 cirkler.
Else Marie Pade mødte jeg første gang 2001, da hun besøgte Museet for Samtidskunst
i Roskilde sammen med Hans Sydow. Sammen producerede vi sidenhen en udstilling som for første gang præsenterede Pade som den pioner hun var og er, indenfor danske elektroakustisk musik. 7 cirkler, som metaforisk lydsætter Dantes helvede og konkret nazismen som Pade erfarede helt tæt på som 16 årig i en koncentrationslejr, var også dengang med på utstillingen. Det fascinerede mig allerede dengang, hvor visuel denne elektroniske lydsætning i grunden var - uden at det kunne ses. En usynlig synlighed, eller måske snarere en mikro-fysisk synlighed udspiller seg i værket - ikke blot i kraft af sin bevægelse i de elektroniske lydrum, men også i en art åndeligt rum, eller medmenneskelighedsrum, som man altid (gen)finder hos Pade, hvis man bruger ørerne og lytter efter.
HC Gilje kendte jeg ligeledes fra udstillinger i Roskilde samt andre sammenhænge, men jeg vil her især fremhæve hans live-VJ´ing i dansekompagniet «Kreutzerkompani», som deltog i udstilingen Get Real - Real Time + Art, kurateret af Björn Norberg og jeg selv på KIASMA i
Helsinki i 2004. På udstillingen stilledes der generelt skarpt, i øvrigt for første gang, på kunstens særlige udfordinger i en distributions-teknologisk kultur, hvor real-time medier og mediering overtager stadig mere af virkeligheds-produktionen. Det æstetiske potentiale i en sådan ny-elektronisk kunst var især tydelig i Synk #2 af Kreutzerkompani (2004). Her performede en danser foran et live publikum, men blev samtidig videooptaget og projiceret på et stort lærred bag scenen. Disse real-time projiceringer var nogle gange synkrone, andre gang ikke.
Denne dans med det (a)synkrone, og i det hele taget det, at lade det elekroniske føle verden og mennesket, genfindes i værket (som jeg kalder) 7x7 Cirkler. Således frisættes mennesket fra det post-nazistisk helvedes syndrom, som har forfulgt det gennem mere end et halvt århundrede, og erstatter det med elektroniske drømme og sælsomme visioner. Stiger vi mon op eller ned?
—
English:
Exhibition text Klangrum Møn
Morten Søndergaard, 2014
HC Gilje’s work 7 Cirkler was originally created upon request: In 2011, as I was preparing to curate the Scandinavian section of the exhibition "Sound Art" at ZKM in Karlsruhe (March 2012 – January 2013), I asked HC if he knew the Danish electroacoustic composer Else Marie Pade—and if he might be interested in working with her piece 7 Cirkler, which Pade composed in 1958–59.
Pade had performed 7 Cirkler at POEX65 in Copenhagen, which was the direct reason for my inquiry. As part of my curatorial strategy, I aimed to invite young artists to re-enact the original works of artists—all selected from POEX65, an event that took place in December 1965. Gilje didn’t need much time to consider—Pade was an extraordinary match (and an important new acquaintance), and 7 Cirkler was a perfect piece to work with in the processual, electronic-visualized sound universe that Gilje masters to perfection. Thus, two geniuses in their respective fields cross paths, and the work might more aptly be titled 7x7 Cirkler.
I first met Else Marie Pade in 2001 when she visited the Museum of Contemporary Art in Roskilde with Hans Sydow. Together, we later produced an exhibition that for the first time presented Pade as the pioneer she was and is in Danish electroacoustic music. 7 Cirkler, which metaphorically sonifies Dante’s Hell and concretely portrays Nazism as Pade experienced it firsthand as a 16-year-old in a concentration camp, was also included in that exhibition. Even then, I was fascinated by how inherently visual this electronic soundscape was—despite its invisibility. An invisible visibility, or perhaps rather a micro-physical visibility, plays out in the work—not only through its movement in electronic sound spaces but also in a kind of spiritual space, or a space of human empathy, that one always (re)discovers in Pade’s work if one listens carefully.
I also knew HC Gilje from exhibitions in Roskilde and other contexts, but I particularly want to highlight his live VJ-ing for the dance company Kreutzerkompani, which participated in the exhibition "Get Real – Real Time + Art", curated by Björn Norberg and me at KIASMA in Helsinki in 2004. This exhibition, for the first time, focused on the unique challenges of art in a distribution-technological culture where real-time media and mediation increasingly dominate reality production. The aesthetic potential of such neo-electronic art was especially evident in Synk #2 by Kreutzerkompani (2004). Here, a dancer performed live in front of an audience while simultaneously being video-recorded and projected onto a large screen behind the stage. These real-time projections were sometimes synchronous, other times not. This dance with the (a)synchronous—and, more broadly, the idea of letting the electronic sense the world and humanity—is rediscovered in the work I call 7 x 7 Cirkler.
Thus, humanity is liberated from the post-Nazi infernal syndrome that has haunted it for over half a century, replacing it with electronic dreams and blissful visions. Are we ascending or descending?
Free impro symbiosis
an introduction to my Lichen films by HC Gilje
2024
mare incognitum
exhibition text by Simon Thykjaer
2024
HC Gilje on exploring unknown landscapes
Interview by James Lee for Hakapik
2022
lysfanger nr.1
by Hanan Benammar
2018
Pings: Matter, Environment and Technology in the work of HC Gilje
by Mitchell Whitelaw
2017
Conversations over time
by Anne Szefer Karlsen
2017
Siding with the light
by Joost Rekveld
2017
Conversations with Spaces
by HC Gilje
2017
7x7 cirkler: Else Marie Pade + HC Gilje
exhibition text for Klangrum Møn by Morten Søndergaard
2014
TIME, SPACE, CHANGE, SPEED, MOTION - Interview with HC Gilje
by Nicky Assmann
2013
Right Here, Right now - HC Gilje´s Networks of Specificity
by Mitchell Whitelaw
2009
Within the space of an instant
by HC Gilje
2005
HC Gilje – Cityscapes and the
cinematic avantgarde
by Per Kvist
2005
preface to Shadowgrounds catalog
by Jeremy Welsh
2001
interview with HC Gilje
by Andreas Broeckmann
2001