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APPENDIKS 7 / HENRIETTE HEISE
On Saturday, the 3rd of April at 15.00 we invite you to APPENDIKS 7
We are pleased to present a collection of nine videos done by visual artist
Henriette Heise (Copenhagen) in the period between 1993-2002.
At first sight you might experience the videos of Henriette Heise as a form
of registration. The pace is slow and the videos are as long as the actions
performed in them. They document an activity, a place or a situation.
When you spend more time with the videos you might wonder if it is the story
that is the point of interest or more so the idea of looking at the
activities taking place. The camera is the gaze, which frames ordinary
situations, and the moment they are recorded they become extraordinary.
There is something about these activities that seems a bit absurd and the
way the videos are recorded makes them almost suspicious. The camera in the
first four videos of Henriette Heise is watching people without their
knowledge. It is a kind of spy films where surveillance as a phenomenon is
investigated. The setting of the video 'operation A vs. operation B' is an
area with piles of soil, where two loader tractors drives around and moves
the earth. The video is filmed through a pair of binoculars, or something
that looks like it. It becomes clear for the viewer when they watch the
video that they are also implicated in the act of spying.
There is something contemplative about the videos of Henriette Heise, a
condition that might come out of the slowness of the videos. We are looking
at everyday life and activities that on the surface seems to be meaningless.
In her videos we look at things being moved around, not knowing exactly why
it happens. Earth is moved from one area to another. A structure is
constructed and taken apart. In the video 'A room of ones own' you see a
pair of hands putting paper circles in different colors on a flat surface.
The circles are placed side by side partially overlapping, on top of each
other in more layers, this goes on until the circles are removed again in
the same fashion and the whole sance start over again. The picture in the
video is out of focus and the boundaries of the circles are blurred. A space
arises that no longer seem to be concrete but one of poetic character a
space that is created almost out of a need.
When one is mesmerized by the videos of Henriette Heise, it might be because
they allow for a space where one can construct the narrative. This happens
because of the minimal tools Heise uses to build up the structure of the
videos a frame without a specific story.
The videos will be screened every day when Appendiks is open, and it is also
possible to consult the videos on your own on a viewing station.
Granddaddys beard and tea will be served.
The presentation will be on view from the 3rd of April to the 29th of April
2004.
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