when the world becomes our body
Installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
The exhibition when the world becomes our body consists of four
video works, and one participatory work, which investigates the relation between human and nature
through interactions between the body and the tidal landscape. In a time of
climate- and biodiversity crisis, the exhibition asks us where the human body
ends, our surroundings begin, and what it means if the world is our body.
Installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Immersion, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Immersion, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Immersion, installation view, Kunstpakhuset, 2022
Immersion, installation view, Kunstpakhuset, 2022
Immersion, installation view, Kunstpakhuset, 2022
Undulation, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Undulation, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Undulation, installation view, Kunstpakhuset, 2022
Undulation, installation view, Kunstpakhuset, 2022
Reflection, installation view, Kunstpakhuset, 2022
Reflection, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Reflection, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Horizon, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Reflection, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Connections, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Connections, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Connections, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Connections, installation view, the Round Tower, 2022
Immersion, video stills, 2022
Reflection, video stills, 2022
Horizon, video still, 2022
Undulation, video still, 2022
Works
Immersion is a 2-channel video installation in which two men wearing business suits appear, life-size, on each vertical screen. They stand on the sea floor while the tide comes in, slowly rising from their feet to their head until they are fully covered, drowning in the sea. We stand in front of these men, eye to eye, and see our own demise mirrored in their bodies.
2-channel FHD video, 16:9 vertical projections,
Stereo sound
Duration: 2h13m10s, loop
Dimensions.: 2 screens of 151cm x 256cm
2022
Undulation is a 24-hour time-lapse of ‘the breath of the
earth’ — the tide is ebbing on the in-breath and flooding on the out-breath. By
experimenting with notions of time-perception, a connection between the rhythm
of the oceanic tide and the rhythm of the human breath is established, opening
up ideas of an animate earth.
1-channel FHD video
projection,
Stereo sound
Duration: 23m58s, loop
Dimensions.: 470cm x 110cm
2022
Reflection is a floor projection in which a dancing,
slow-moving body appears in the reflection of a thin water surface. The work is
a rare interplay between clouds, sun, wind and the moving body, reflected in
the water surface above varying textures of sand. This interplay is alive and
moving with tranquility, layers are morphing together, engaging in each other’s
presence by blurring the liminal space, while our perception is getting fuzzy
trying to figure out where one element stops and another begins.
1-channel FHD video, 16:9 floor projection
Duration: 12m54s. loop
Dimensions: 300cm x 170cm
2022
Horizon is a video work that immerses you in a
vast inter-tidal landscape that lies ambiguously in the space between stillness and
movement. You start hearing steps in the sand, then gradually notice a dot moving
in the distance—something is slowly and exponentially increasing in size and
detail.
By exploring the space between appearance and non-appearance, a
meditative space is created where one can question the process of recognizing and
classifying objects through our senses.
1-channel video projection, FHD 16:9
Stereo sound
Duration: 16m14s, loop
Dimensions: 500cm x 280cm
2022
Connections is a participatory artwork where visitors are invited to reflect and draw connections between concepts that are significant for our relationship to the world around us.
Where does the human body begin and where does the natural world end? Is there such a boundary between human and nature? And what happens if we experience the world as our own body?Materials: Yarn, pens, pencils, paper, wood, nails
Dimensions: Variable
2022
Credits
Amund Bentsen & Benjamin Skop, when the world becomes our body, 2022
The works were recorded in the tidal zone in the Outer Hebrides in
Scotland in 2019 by invitation from the Taigh Chearsbhagh Museum & Arts Centre.
The exhibition was supported by: A. P. Møller Fonden and Københavns Kommune Rådet for Visuel KunstExhibitions
when the world becomes our body, the Round Tower, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2022
when the world becomes our body, Kunstpakhuset, Ikast, Denmark, 2022
Ecognosis, the Taigh Chearsbhagh Museum & Arts Centre, North Uist, Scotland, 2019