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Telling and Retelling by Gitte Villesen

Telling and Retelling

Stories found together with Amadou Sarr
told by Mariama Corr and Bubba Jallow
with participation from Mantel Sanneh, N’Dèye N’Diaye, Ebrima Touray, Ali Joop, Momodou Bah, Lamin Diediou and Mariama Senghor
A piece by Gitte Villesen

Historier fundet sammen med Amadou Sarr
Fortalt af Mariama Corr og Bubba Jallow
Med deltagelse af Mantel Sanneh, N’Dèye N’Diaye, Ebrima Touray, Ali Joop, Momodou Bah, Lamin Diediou og Mariama Senghor
Et værk af Gitte Villesen
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The vitrine at the library of Campus Roskilde contains items collected since the first visit to Gambia in 2008. Some elements and protagonists have appeared in previous stories. Others might reappear in future stories.

Vitrinen i Campus Roskildes bibliotek indeholder objekter, der er samlet siden det første besøg i 2008. Enkelte elementer og personer har optrådt i tidligere værker, og nogle vil måske optræde igen i andre møder og andre historier.
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The bedcover was designed, sewn, and used by Mariama Corr. She received money for the production of three more, which she then paid her neighbor to sew for her.

Sengetæppet er designet, syet og brugt af Mariama Corr. Hun fik et beløb for at sy yderligere tre sengetæpper og betalte naboen for at sy dem efter hendes anvisninger.
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When Amadou Sarr and I met in Norway later that year, he had brought the three bedcovers specifically produced for the vitrine.

Da Amadou Sarr og jeg mødes i Norge senere samme år, har han de tre sengetæpper med, som er produceret specifikt til vitrinen.
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One of the first sketches done after I was asked to develop a proposal for a work for Campus Roskilde. The photocopied photograph is of Lilly Reich’s Silk and Velvet Cafe at the Women’s Fashion Exhibition in Berlin in 1927. The colorful patterns are samples found on the internet. A considerable amount of the textiles sold in Africa are produced by earlier colonial powers; as far as I remember, these pattern samples might be from Dutch companies.

En af mine første skitser til et udsmykningsforslag til Campus Roskilde. Det fotokopierede billede er fra Lilly Reichs Silk and Velvet Café (Silke- og fløjlscafé) på Kvindernes modeudstilling i Berlin, 1927. De farverige mønstre er billeder af stofprøver fundet på nettet. En betydelig del af de tekstiler som sælges i Afrika, produceres af tidligere kolonimagter som for eksempel Holland. Så vidt jeg husker, er prøverne på skitsen fra et af de hollandske firmaer.
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After a research visit to Gambia, Amadou Sarr kept calling to ask when I would come back so we could continue, but it took a while before I knew if the project would be accepted. While waiting, I got this text message from Amadou.

Efter en research-rejse til Gambia ringede Amadou Sarr flere gange for at spørge om, hvornår jeg ville komme tilbage, så vi kunne fortsætte. Det tog dog noget tid, før jeg vidste, om projektet blev godkendt, og mens jeg ventede på svar, fik jeg denne sms fra Amadou Sarr.
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A year later, while still preparing the project, I got this text message from Amadou Sarr.

Et år senere, mens jeg stadig arbejdede på projektet, fik jeg denne besked fra Amadou Sarr.
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Detail from woven textile bought by Mariama Senghor together with Joerg Franzbecker at the Serakunda Market in 2012.

Detalje af et vævet tekstil købt af Mariama Senghor sammen med Joerg Franzbecker på Serakunda-markedet i 2012.
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Watercan used by Amadou Sarr in the video “This is what I used to do”.

Vandkande brugt af Amadou Sarr i videoen „This is what I used to do“ (Dette er, hvad jeg plejede at gøre).
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The flutes were made by Amadou Sarr during the recordings for “This is what I used to do“. They are similar to the ones Amadou made as a child in the village Kerr Amadou.

Fløjterne er lavet af Amadou Sarr under optagelserne til „This is what I used to do“ (Dette er, hvad jeg plejede at gøre). De er magen til dem, Amadou lavede som barn i landsbyen Kerr Amadou.
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The postcard is a gift from Pia Rönicke, displaying a wall-hanging from 1928 by Anni Albers. The bracelets were bought together with Mariama Senghor.

Postkortet er en gave fra Pia Rönike og viser: Anni Albers, vægophængning, 1928. Armbåndene er købt sammen med Mariama Senghor.
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A photo of Mariama Senghor’s bedroom from 2011. Earlier when I asked her about the decorations on the walls, she explained that she had learned about this from some Senegalese women. Anyone who enters her bedroom should immediately see that a lot of fun is had in this room. All of the clothes displayed on the wall have a connection with sex. The day before, we were discussing the circumcision of small boys and girls. Mariama Senghor’s bedroom is, in that context, a clear statement — in a country where the circumcision of girls, and thereby a general repression of female sexuality, still takes place.

Fotografiet af Mariama Senghors soveværelse er fra 2011. Da jeg spurgte til Mariama Senghors udsmykning af hendes soveværelse, forklarede hun, at det var noget, hun havde lært af nogle senegalesiske kvinder. Enhver der træder ind i hendes soveværelse, skal med det samme kunne se, at det er et rum, hvor man har det sjovt. Alt tøjet som hænger på væggen, bliver brugt i forbindelse med sex. Dagen forinden havde vi talt om den traditionelle omskæring af både piger og drenge. Mariama Senghors soveværelse er i den forbindelse et klart statement i et land, hvor omskæring af kvinder, og en generel undertrykkelse af kvinders seksualitet, stadig foregår.
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Photo from Mariama Senghor’s bedroom from 2008.

Foto fra Mariama Senghors soveværelse fra 2008.
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Photo from Mariama Senghor’s bedroom from 2008.

Foto fra Mariama Senghors soveværelse fra 2008.
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One package of Attaja (green tea) drunk in Tanji together with Mariama Senghor, and another package of tea drunk in the village Kerr Amadou with Ali Joof.

En pakke attaja (grøn te) drukket i Tanji sammen med Mariama Senghor samt en anden pakke drukket i landsbyen Kerr Amadou med Ali Joof.
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The paper boat is a reconstruction of the boats in Adjara Sarr’s hands. Adjara Sarr died of yellow fever together with her newborn child in October 2011 at the age of twenty-one. The photo was taken three years earlier.

Papirbåden er en rekonstruktion af bådene i Adjara Sarrs hænder. Adjara Sarr døde, sammen med sit nyfødte barn, 21 år gammel, af gul feber i oktober 2011. Dette foto er fra 2008.
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The molo is a traditional instrument with just one string. This one Amadou Sarr made shortly after sending the long text message from October 12, 2011, concerning the purchase of additional textiles and the description of the molo.

Moloen er et traditionelt instrument med én streng. Denne er lavet af Amadou Sarr, efter han havde sendt de to lange sms’er fra d. 12. oktober 2011 om køb af gardinstof og en beskrivelse af moloen.
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When I got these two text messages, Amadou Sarr and I had just been on the phone to discuss how he should instruct Mariama Corr, as she was about to make another large curtain for me. I also told Amadou that I had just been to the National History Museum in Copenhagen and had spoken with someone there about the Molos in their collection.

Da jeg fik disse to tekstbeskeder fra Amadou Sarr, havde vi lige telefoneret om, hvordan han skulle instruere Mariama Corr, der skulle til at sy endnu et gardin til mig. Jeg havde også fortalt Amadou, at jeg for nylig havde været på Nationalmuseet i København og talt med nogen dér om molo'erne i deres samling.
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The flashlight is a gift from Ali Joof. It was bought in the kiosk in Kerr Amadou. We were staying in his compound, and he helped every day during our visits in Kerr Amadou.

Lommelygten er en gave fra Ali Joof. Den er købt i kiosken i Kerr Amadou. Vi boede hos Ali Joof, og han hjalp os hver dag under vores besøg i Kerr Amadou.
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Since we first met, Gambian Amadou Sarr talked about his uncle Bubba Jallow and the village Kerr Amadou, where he grew up. Finally, during two visits to Kerr Amadou in October 2011 and February 2012, we met with Bubba Jallow, who is held in high esteem for once being a respected hunter. Before hunting, he would perform a ritual that would show him where to go and what he would catch. The stories by Bubba Jallow were translated first by Amadou Sarr, and during the second visit by Ebrima Touray. Besides being a film on its own, “Two readings by Bubba Jallow” is part of a larger art project, “Telling and Retelling”, commissioned by Campus Roskilde, Denmark. All stories included in the project were found together with Amadou Sarr.

Amadou Sarr har i lang tid villet tage mig med til landsbyen Kerr Amadou, hvor han voksede op. Videoen "Two Readings by Bubba Jallow" (To læsninger af Bubba Jallow) er optaget under to besøg i landsbyen i oktober 2011 og februar 2012. Under begge besøg filmede vi Amadou Sarrs onkel Bubba Jallow, som tidligere var en højt respekteret jæger. Inden han gik på jagt, plejede han at udføre et ritual, som ville vise ham, hvor han skulle gå hen, og hvad han ville fange. Mødet med Bubba Jallow blev ved første besøg oversat af Amadou Sarr og anden gang af Ebrima Touray.
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Mariama Corr and Omar Corr sewing the curtains which can be seen in the video “Retelling Marima's curtains”.

Mariama Corr og Omar Corr syr gardinerne, som man kan se i videoen „Retelling Mariama's curtains“ (Genfortælling af Mariamas gardiner).
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Detail from one of the curtains sewn by Mariama Corr in 2010. They were used in several exhibitions as part of a video installation where she, her daughter, and her mother were presented and tell stories. Stories which are translated from Wolof into English by Amadou Sarr.

Detalje fra et af gardinerne syet af Mariama Corr i 2010. Gardinerne er blevet brugt i flere udstillinger som en del af en video-installation, hvor hun selv, hendes datter og hendes mor fortæller om deres liv. I videoerne oversætter Mariamas Corrs svigersøn Amadou Sarr.
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Detail from one of the curtains sewn by Mariama Corr in 2010.

Detalje fra et af Mariamas gardiner fra 2010.
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The curtains for the canteen at Campus Roskilde are “translations,” and “retellings,” of Mariama Corr’s curtains. The “translated” curtains follow restrictions for fire proofing and light fastness, while Mariama Corr’s are made of different quality cottons normally used for clothing. About ten of Mariama Corr’s curtains have been made into seven different “translations,” and five of the models for these are on display in the vitrine. The translated curtains are developed in cooperation with Mona Kuschel/Couturereal.

Gardinerne til kantinen på Campus Roskilde er ”oversættelser” og ”genfortællinger” af Mariama Corrs gardindesign. De ”oversatte” gardiner er syet af flammehæmmende og lysægte tekstiler, mens Mariama Corrs gardiner er lavet af forskellige bomuldskvaliteter, som normalt anvendes til beklædning. Ca. ti af Mariama Corrs gardiner er blevet til syv forskellige ”oversættelser”. Fem af modellerne til disse er udstillet i vitrinen. Gardinerne til kantinen er udviklet i samarbejde med Mona Kuschel, Couturereal.
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The installation views are from different exhibitions where Mariama Corr’s curtains were used. In this case it is: Passerelle Centre d’art contemporain/ photographer: Nicolas Ollier

Installationsfotografierne stammer fra forskellige udstillinger, hvor Mariama Corrs gardiner er blevet anvendt. I dette tilfælde er det fra Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain/ fotograf: Nicolas Ollier.
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Pile of left-over textiles

En bunke stofrester.
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To protect her vegetable garden, Mariama Corr has sewn a fence.

For at beskytte sin nyttehave har Mariama Corr syet et læhegn.
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This is what I used to do, video, 23’
Two readings by Bubba Jallow, video, 29’30
Retelling Mariama's curtain, video 9´30

Telling and Retelling is a commissioned work for Campus Roskilde

Telling and Retelling er et kommisioneret værk til Campus Roskilde

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Film-poster and still image
Filmplakat og still-billed
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How we met (by Gitte Villesen)
The project for Campus Roskilde started for me with the Library – thinking of it as a collection of knowledge and stories. Since I first met Amadou Sarr, he and I together have looked for stories and ways of talking about “knowledge”. The work “Telling Retelling” is a collection of diffent approaches; it tests out ways of translating, mediating and retelling. The virtrine placed in the library was the starting element for the work, which has spread itself out into several sites at Campus Roskilde.
All these stories were found in collaboration and close discussion with Amadou Sarr, who over the years has introduced me to a large number of family members. Some of them, like his mother-in-law Mariama Corr and his wife Mariama Senghor, have at this point participated in several ways in different works.It all started in 2007 when I got an invitation to do a site specific work for Café Sting in Stavanger, Norway. Café Sting’s owner, Terje Vallestad, told me a story about Amadou Sarr, a Gambian musician and knowledgeable practitioner of juju. Since the 80s Amadou Sarr has been to Norway many times; often he comes for three months over the summer, staying with Terje. Vallestad related how, in the middle of the night shortly after the cafe had opened, Amadou, together with a local carpenter, removed a piece of the doorstep leading into the café to make an enclosure. Inside they placed a juju, before closing off the opening, making sure to erase any trace that the doorstep had been tampered with.
Now, should you stand before the entrance to Café Sting, you will be overcome by the urge to walk through the door, assured that something good will happen once inside.
The doorstep story stuck with me. Amadou was, as often, planning to travel to Stavanger during the summer of 2007, and I had planned to make a research trip to meet him. But he wasn’t given a visa. I then decided to go to Gambia to talk with him.One project led to the other, so by now a large number of his family members have participated in different projects and films. The films have never been shown publicly in Gambia, but the various family members have seen them. And for each project they have seen, they ask me to come back so we can do more. Amadou Sarr gave a concert at two of the exhibition openings.
Gitte Villesen

Hvordan vi mødtes (af Gitte Villesen)
Projektet til Campus Roskilde startede, for mig, ved at tænke biblioteket som en samling af viden og historier. Lige siden jeg mødte Amadou Sarr, har han og jeg sammen ledt efter historier og måder at tale om "viden" på. Værket "Telling Retelling" er en samling af forskellige tilgange, der undersøger måder at oversætte, formidle og genfortælle på. Vitrinen, der står i biblioteket, danner således udgangspunktet for hele værket, som efterfølgende har spredt sig til flere steder på Campus Roskilde.
Alle historier er fundet i tæt samarbejde med Amadou Sarr, som gennem årene har introduceret mig til mange af hans familiemedlemmer. Nogle af disse – som fx Amadou Sarrs svigermor Mariama Corr og hans kone Mariama Senghor – har således optrådt i flere af mine værker. Det hele startede i 2007, da jeg fik en invitation til at lave et stedsspecifikt værk til Café Sting i Stavanger i Norge. Café Stings ejer, Terje Vallestad, fortalte mig en historie om Amadou Sarr – en gambisk musiker og erfaren udøver af ”juju” – der siden 80'erne har været i Norge mange gange. Han tilbringer ofte 3 måneder om sommeren hos Terje.
Vallestad fortalte mig, at Amadou Sarr – sammen med en lokal tømrer, midt om natten, kort efter at caféen havde åbnet – anbragte en juju inde i dørtrinnet til caféen og slettede alle spor efter sig. Står man nu foran indgangen til Café Sting, vil man uvilkårligt overvældes af en trang til at gå ind gennem døren i forvished om, at der vil ske noget godt indenfor.
Historien om dørtrinnet blev ved med at vende tilbage til mig. Amadou Sarr skulle, som så ofte før, rejse til Stavanger i løbet af sommeren 2007, men da han ikke fik indrejsetilladelse, besluttede jeg i stedet at rejse til Gambia for at tale med ham.
Det ene projekt har ført til det næste, og efterhånden har mange af Amadou Sarrs familiemedlemmer været med i flere forskellige projekter og film. Filmene har aldrig været udstillet offentligt i Gambia, men familien har set dem, og de beder hver gang om at komme tilbage, så vi kan lave flere.
Indtil videre har Amadou Sarr givet koncert i forbindelse med to udstillingsåbninger.
Gitte Villesen



Narratives between Situated Knowledge and Suspended Disbelief (by Judith Schwarzbart)
Telling and Retelling is Gitte Villesen’s artistic contribution to the newly opened Campus Roskilde, University College Zealand (UCSJ), a college offering bachelor degrees and located in Roskilde, Denmark. The work consists of several parts that permit viewers various ways of entering into a web of narratives, magical knowledge and personal relationships. The narratives unfold from a corporeal, highly personal and relational perspective alternating with references to Gambia and the aesthetic power of the materials themselves.
The work features a number of different elements: Curtains in the windows of the canteen; a display case full of exhibited objects in the library; film posters on the wall; and three videos on a website that constitutes an exhibition site in its own right. The elements position themselves within the functions of the college where students find their bearings, seeking new knowledge and narratives while — occasionally— sheltering from the sunlight streaming in through the large canteen windows. The positioning creates an overlap between the reality contained by the work and that created by the works in these spaces and their encounters with viewers and with students’ everyday lives.
The display case contains items like a plastic jug, a clay flute, fabric samples, a coloured postcard, etc. A text in the display case explains that these items are objects gathered since the first visit to Gambia in 2008. The text goes on to explain that while certain elements and protagonists played a part in previous stories, others might reappear in future ones. The objects are simultaneously indicating and positioning themselves within a series of narratives, which are merely hinted at through brief text references here. The display case also features a curtain made of pieces of fabric sewn together. As we shall see, this curtain has a special relationship to the one in the canteen. Moreover, one finds a miniature version, which may be considered a sketch for the one in the canteen. Like the other objects on display the curtain too has a story to tell.
As in many of Villesen’s other works and projects, the narratives unfold more fully in her videos: This is what I used to do (23 min) and Two readings by Bubba Jallow (29:30 min). Both are available on the website but have been moved into this physical space through the two posters. They follow musician Amadou Sarr home to the Gambian village where he grew up. In This is what I used to do we follow a complicated production process with Amadou almost wordlessly recreating an instrument that has been of great significance to him. His technical knowledge is displayed through the manual working of materials and the mastery of techniques and physical processes. Ignorant of the end result, viewers are left to merely observe the material transformations constituting the production process to finally reveal an apparently humble object with a beautiful sound. In Two readings by Bubba Jallow another kind of knowledge takes centre stage: A magical insight into the spiritual world of the hunt. Here Amadou’s elderly uncle demonstrates his preparations prior to a hunt —to the extent that such things can be revealed. Bubba shows us how he reads a herbal mixture that tells him where to go to catch what: invaluable knowledge for a hunter.

Relational anthropology

On viewing the videos the objects in the display cabinet attain a new set of dimensions for the viewer. Although not all of them explicitly indicate a story they do tell of the process. There is a certain museum quality to their formal presentation in the display cases. The format mimics a cultural-historical display even in the absence of classical communication and contextualisation. This approach is not unusual among artists, but in this work it is particularly interesting since it also contains other anthropological associations. Similarly, the narratives have been brought home from “the field” and hold great insight and special knowledge. Yet the work —and the process of becoming that we are about to witness—are at once both similar and dissimilar to the field anthropology and its objects.
When art appropriates anthropological forms of display it reverses an approach we usually encounter in cultural-historical contexts, i.e. anthropological objects shown as art. Anthropological objects must be understood as fragments removed from their cultural, social and functional context. Within the new framework of the museum the objects can only be partially understood: stripped of the performative culture of which they were previously a part and which the museum is attempting to communicate or reconstruct. Yet anthropological fragments may also be displayed in isolation. Here emphasis is on their inherent aesthetic qualities: a manner of presentation we generally associate with modernist art displays. A typical modern understanding of art posits the work as the opposite of the fragment: complete in its own right, autonomously encompassing its own significance. The surroundings are —theoretically speaking— irrelevant as long as they provide room for the work to unfold its particular unique aura. Telling and Retelling is neither anthropology nor modernist art, although it does draw on elements from both traditions. Thus we may read these objects both as parts of a greater whole and as free expression. This is the effect the artist has achieved through the organization of the objects.
The process itself also constitutes a distinct element of the work. Like a researcher the artist follows her connection into the village in order to collect and document, seeking to understand and learn from her findings. Like a good researcher she is entirely transparent concerning her working process and her own position within it. However, Villesen’s method (if an artistic practice can in fact be described as such) distinguishes itself from that of science i.a. in the fact that she never externalizes herself. Although she is in fact positioned outside the picture, thereby leaving a lot to those in front of the camera, we get a clear sense that their relationship is vital to the situation. She has established a special bond with the people she records and they are invited to display and narrate their stories, sharing their knowledge on their own terms; at once as intimate as a friend sharing a secret and as open as a specialist proudly demonstrating his or her prowess to the world. One might say that she takes her starting point from the notion of “situated knowledge”. In no way does she claim to make a general statement. Her perspective is partial and corporeal, focusing on the singular rather than the general. The text extracts in the display case evidence the fact that the personal interchanges and the cooperation she establishes with the people she follows extend beyond the visit and the recording situation itself. When Amadou describes a dream in a text message —thereby guiding Villesen on how to succeed with her film project— this magical reality is more than just a theme of the film. It is a condition of their relationship. This aspect is key to Villesen’s practice: The people involved help to establish the work’s conditions of becoming.
Furthermore, Villesen herself is deeply involved. She is a subject both in terms of relations and communication —or retelling if you will. Here too, her work distinguishes itself significantly from the scientific approach. It is not to be understood primarily through its referentiality —its attempts to “objectively” render a reality located elsewhere. It is a production in its own right —told and retold in its own Gitte Villesen-voice. This is not merely about “found” objects and narratives, it is also about their arrangement: the aesthetic display, the constellation between objects, texts, the display case and the editing of the films. Thus Villesen’s narrative cannot be distinguished from a complex interplay between anthropological and documentary means on one hand and formal ones on the other. Is the work thus rejecting any claim to truth? Rather a kind of suspended disbelief is established in which we accept the narrative on its own terms beyond ideas of truth or (scientific) notions of knowledge.
There are aesthetic elements at play here, which are pushing us in directions different from the purely communicative, documentary and anthropological. There is a certain sensuality at work here: The display case features an almost abstract composition constituted neither by modernist formalism nor by an ethnophilic enthusiasm for colour. It allows the arranged reality to stand out with a fabulous life of its own. On closer inspection, however, the objects are in fact possessed of indexical and referential qualities indicative of a prior interchange: Villesen’s long friendship with Amadou and her journeys to Gambia. In the early years of her career Villesen became associated with “relational aesthetics” but though formal aesthetics have gained a higher priority in her work over time it is tempting to think that her practice has an element of something that could be termed relational anthropology.
Relations are as significant as the objects and narratives. Amadou plays a central part in the selection of the stories and certain objects originate from him. Villesen’s relationship with Amadou reaches beyond the work to Campus Roskilde. Since their first meeting in 2008, their relationship has spurred a whole series of art works. Subsequently Amadou’s mother-in-law Mariama has played a key role by sewing the curtain in the display case. Similar curtains formed a part of previous video-installations and exhibitions but there were several obstacles that prevented them from being directly usable at UCSJ, such as requirements regarding translucence, fire safety, durability etc. As evidenced by the third video, the artists opted instead to use the principles of linguistic translation when deciding what aspects to recreate and adapt in order to maintain essential expressive elements. Mariama’s light fabric and slightly imprecise form has been translated into heavier fabric with straight lines. Conversely, the new curtain displays a small but symbolic detail: The canteen version features a French seam on the front of the fabric, so that neither side is clearly distinguishable as front or back. Each has aspects of both. The curtain’s colours and functions —as well as its relationship to the architecture— are other aspects of its complex nature. This points back to Mariama and her fabrics, while their “translation” to a new context has imbued this curtain with a life of its own.

The poetics of translation

As a member of a European audience and with limited knowledge of the African continent there is no avoiding the experience of distance between once own horizons and those of Amadou and his family. The work is in a state of translation. In fact, Telling and Retelling features translations at many different levels. The videos always include a local interpreter translating the local languages of Wolof and Fula into English. Unlike the subtitles, which provide a translation in the linguistic sense, the role of the translator in the film is that of attempting to explain what is happening and being said in the situation for Danish outsiders. Thus the presence of the interpreter impacts the situation as well as the narratives that can appear. There are several layers of translation at play in the work: from one language system to another, from one horizon to another and from one cosmology to a radically different one.
If we take our point of departure in Walter Benjamin’s now-famous thoughts on translation, we are dealing with the fact that the original text is merely a starting point. It must of necessity be transformed through its recreation in another language. The radical thing about the ideas formulated by Benjamin in the 1920s was that he distanced himself from the notion of an original source text and a secondary translation, where the original remains principally unaffected by what happens to the translation. Instead, he uses the metaphor of the circle (the source text) and the tangent (the translation) touching the circle at a single point prior to continuing along its own path. However, we could also consider translation as something that takes place within a cultural framework. According to Boris Buden, culture and cultural experience are untranslatable since both are dynamic entities in time and space. Yet we may understand culture as a process of translation in its own right. In extension of this line of thought it is interesting to consider how re-enactment became a major theme in early 21st-century performance art. In the fields of music and theatre performance is typically considered a unique interpretation of the source text (the manuscript, the sheet music), yet we may also choose to consider it a translation from one form to another.
What happens if we consider the exhibition in the display case, the recordings and video editing and the “translated” curtain as a retelling, a re-enactment and a translation —a translation on post-colonial terms? A hybrid of a sort similar to the water jug that appears several places in the work, shaped like a British teakettle but produced from colourfully striped, recycled plastic. If we are to follow Buden and Benjamin in their rejection of a pure and stable original, we must accept that the cultural experience that constitutes the starting point and the art form created are both dynamic entities: Both are already translations. Amadou seeks to communicate his reality to the world through Villesen and her film. Villesen in turn seeks a form that allows her to contain it within her artistic, European horizon. Although they touch only at a single point their relationship is vital —not as a point of transportation but as a point of production.
The openness permitted by Villesen within this relationship enables an interchange beyond the distinction between true knowledge and superstition, fact and fiction. She allows another world-view to impose itself within this very munificent space provided by art. Thus it is interesting to observe what happens when this practice is integrated within an educational institution that does not have the word “Art” emblazoned across the entrance: A place where translated curtains become part of students’ everyday lives, where the display case borrows a measure of authority from the library and the website with its films and communications becomes a place where the elements are brought together and the conceptual dimensions of the work truly become apparent. This commission is not about ornamentation as conceived in earlier times. Nor is it a site-specific work to merge with the location. The challenge remains for students and teachers to unfold the narratives for themselves.
Judith Schwarzbart
Translated by Caitlin Madden


Fortællinger mellem situeret viden og suspenderet tvivl (af Judith Schwarzbart)
Telling and Retelling er Gitte Villesens kunstneriske bidrag til det nybyggede Campus Roskilde, University College Sjælland (UCSJ), en uddannelsesinstitution for professionsbachelorer i Roskilde. Værket, som består af flere dele, lukker på forskellig vis beskueren ind i et net af fortællinger, magisk viden og personlige relationer. Fortællingerne udfolder sig gennem et kropsbundet, stærkt personligt og relationsbåret perspektiv, hvis virkemidler skifter mellem referencer til Gambia og materialets egen æstetiske kraft.
I værket indgår mange elementer: gardiner i kantinens vinduer, en vitrine med udstillede genstande placeret på biblioteket, en filmplakat, et tryk med filmstil og tre videoer placeret på en hjemmeside, der således udgør et udstillingssted i sin egen ret. Værkelementernes placering indskriver dem i bygningens og skolens andre funktioner, hvor de studerende orienterer sig, søger viden og fortællinger og ind imellem afskærmer sig for solen der strømmer ind ad de store vinduespartier i kantinen. Placeringen skaber således et overlap mellem den virkelighed værket rummer og den det skaber i rummene samt i mødet med betragteren og de studerendes hverdag.
Vitrinen indeholder eksempelvis en plastkande, en lerfløjte, stofprøver, et koloreret postkort mm. Genstande som ifølge en tekst i vitrinen er ”ting samlet siden det første besøg i Gambia i 2008”. Teksten fortsætter: ”Visse elementer og protagonister har optrådt i forudgående historier. Andre kunne dukke op igen i fremtidige historier.” Genstandene indskriver sig i og peger på fortællinger, som på dette sted kun antydes med korte tekstreferencer. I vitrinen findes også et gardin af sammensyet stof, der har en særlig relation til gardinet i kantinen, samt et miniature gardin, som kan betragtes som en skitse til gardinerne i kantinen. Ligesom de andre genstande i vitrinen fortæller også gardinet en historie.
Som i mange af Villesens andre værker og projekter er det i hendes videoer at fortællingerne for alvor folder sig ud. Videoerne This is what I used to do (23 min) og Two readings by Bubba Jallow (29:30 min) (som findes på hjemmesiden men er rykket ind i det fysiske rum via de to plakater) følger musikeren Amadou Sarr hjem til den Gambianske landsby, hvor han er opvokset. Her følger vi i This is what I used to do en kompliceret fremstillingsproces, hvor Amadou næsten ordløst genskaber et instrument, der har været af stor betydning for ham. Hans tekniske viden vises gennem håndens materialebearbejdning og hans beherskelse af teknikker og fysiske processer. Uvidende om slutresultatet er publikum overladt til blot at iagttage de materielle forvandlinger, som indgår i fremstillingen. Til slut åbenbares et tilsyneladende ydmygt objekt med en smuk lyd. I videoen Two readings by Bubba Jallow er det en anden slags viden, som er i centrum: en magisk indsigt i en åndelig verden der knytter sig specielt til jagten. Her er det Amadous gamle onkel, der viser hvordan han forbereder sig før en jagt —dvs. så meget man nu kan røbe af den slags. Bubba viser hvordan han kan læse i en urtemikstur, hvor han skal gå hen for at fange hvad: en helt uvurderlig viden for en jæger.

Relationel antropologi

Genstandene i vitrinen får nye dimensioner, når man har set videoerne. Selvom ikke alle peger eksplicit på en historie, fortæller de stadig noget om processen. Der er noget musealt over vitrinens formelle præsentation af genstande. Formen mimer et kulturhistorisk display, selvom den klassiske formidling og kontekstualisering ikke optræder. Det er ikke usædvanligt at kunstnere anvender et sådant formelt greb, men det er særlig interessant i dette værk, da det også rummer andre slægtskaber med antropologien. Fortællingerne er ligeledes ’hjembragt’ ude fra ’feltet’ og gemmer på stor indsigt og særlig viden. Men værket —og tilblivelsesprocessen som vi skal se—både ligner og adskiller sig fra antropologien og dens objekter.
Når kunsten anvender et antropologisk display, foretager den det omvendte greb, af et vi ofte ser brugt i kulturhistorisk sammenhæng, nemlig antropologiske genstande udstillet som kunst. De antropologiske genstande må forstås som fragmenter, der er fjernet for deres kulturelle, sociale og funktionelle kontekst. Placeret i en ny museal sammenhæng kan genstandene kun delvist forstås, uden den performative kultur de tidligere har indgået i og som museet forsøger at formidle eller rekonstruere. Alligevel udstilles de antropologske fragmenter til tider isoleret med betoning af deres egne, iboende, æstetiske kvaliteter. Dvs. en præsentationsmåde vi typisk forbinder med det modernistiske kunstdisplay. I den klassiske moderne kunstforståelse er værket det modsatte af et fragment. Det er fuldendt i sig selv. Det er autonomt, bærer sin betydning i sig selv. Omgivelserne er principielt irrelevante, så længe de yder plads til værkets udfoldelse af sin særlige unikke aura. Telling and Retelling er hverken antropologi eller modernistisk kunst, men trækker på elementer fra begge traditioner. Vi kan således læse objekterne både som dele af en større sammenhæng og som frie udtryk. Det er dette kunstgreb, kunstneren har skabt ved at organisere genstandene på denne måde.
Også processen udgør et særligt element i værket. Som en forsker følger kunstneren sin forbindelse ud i landsbyen, for at registrere, indsamle, forstå og lære af det hun finder. Ligeledes som en god forsker er hun transparent omkring processen og sin egen position. Men Villesens arbejdsmetode (hvis man overhovedet kan beskrive en kunstnerisk praksis som en metode) adskiller sig fra den videnskabelige, bl.a. ved at hun aldrig holder sig selv udenfor. Selvom hun befinder sig uden for billedet og overlader meget til personerne foran kameraet, mærker man tydeligt, at relationen er bærende i situationen. Hun har etableret en særlig forbindelse med de mennesker hun filmer. De er inviteret til at fremvise, fortælle deres historier og dele deres viden på egne præmisser. Det er på én gang intimt, som en ven der deler en hemmelighed og åbent, som en specialist der stolt fremviser sine særlige færdigheder til den store verden. Man kan argumentere for, at hun arbejder ud fra idéen om ’situeret viden’. Hun gør intet krav på at udsige noget generelt. Hendes perspektiv er partisk, kropsbundet og fokuseret på det singulære frem for det generelle. Tekstuddrag i vitrinen vidner samtidig om, at den personlige udveksling og hendes samarbejde med de personer hun følger, rækker ud over selve besøget og filmsituationen. Når Amadou i en sms beskriver en drøm og vejleder Villesen i, hvordan hun kan få held med sit filmprojekt, er denne magiske virkelighed ikke blot et tema i filmen men et vilkår i relationen. Her ser vi noget centralt i Villesens praksis: at de involverede er med til at sætte betingelserne for værkets tilblivelse.
Men Villesen er også selv dybt involveret som subjekt. Både hvad angår relationerne og formidlingen —eller genfortællingen om man vil. Også her adskiller værket sig tydeligt fra den videnskabelige tilgang. Værket skal ikke primært forstås gennem sin referentialitet, sin tilstræbt ”objektive” fremstilling af en virkelighed et andet sted. Det er en fremstilling i sin egen ret —fortalt og genfortalt med sin egen Gitte Villesen-stemme. Det handler ikke blot om de ”fundne” genstande og fortællinger, men også om deres arrangering: det æstetiske display; konstellationen med teksterne og vitrinen; filmenes redigering. Villesens fortælling kan således ikke skilles fra det komplekse sammenspil mellem de antropologiske og dokumentariske virkemidler på den ene side og det formelle på den anden. Giver værket dermed giver afkald på et sandhedskrav? Der etableres snarere en suspenderet tvivl (suspended disbelief) hvor vi accepterer fortællingen på dens egne præmisser, hinsides forestillinger om sandhed eller (videnskabelige) idéer om viden.
Her er æstetiske elementer på spil, som trækker i en anden retning end det formidlende, dokumentariske og antropologiske. Der er en sanselighed og en næsten abstrakt komposition i vitrinen, som hverken er modernistisk formalisme eller etnofil farveglæde. Det får den arrangerede virkelighed til at fremtræde med et fabulerende eget liv. Ved nærmere eftersyn har objekterne dog indeksikale og refererende kvaliteter, som peger tilbage på den udveksling der er gået forud: det langvarige venskab med Amadou og rejserne til Gambia. I de tidlige år af hendes karriere blev Villesen associeret med den ’relationelle æstetik’, men selvom det formelt æstetiske er kommet til at fylde mere, er det fristende at tænke, at hendes praksis har et element af noget vi kunne kalde relationel antropologi.
Relationerne er lige så væsentlige som genstandene og historierne. Amadou spiller en central rolle i udvælgelsen af fortællingerne og visse objekter stammer fra ham: relationen til Amadou rækker udover værket til Campus Roskilde. Siden de mødtes første gang i 2008, har relationen givet anledning til en hel række kunstværker. Siden har også Amadous svigermor, Mariama, fået en central rolle, idet hun har syet gardinet i vitrinen. Lignende gardiner har indgået i tidligere video-installationer og udstillinger, men der var flere forhindringer for at de kunne bruges direkte på UCSJ som f.eks. krav til lystæthed, brandsikkerhed, holdbarhed mv. Som man kan se af den tredje video, valgte kunstneren i stedet at anvende princippet fra den sproglige oversættelse, når der skulle træffes valg omkring hvilke aspekter hun skulle genskabe og tilpasse således at noget væsentligt blev bevaret i udtrykket. Mariamas lette stof og lidt upræcise form er oversat til et tungere stof med rette linjer. Til gengæld har det nye gardin fået tilføjet en lille, men symbolsk, detalje. Gardinet til kantinen har fået en fransk søm, der ligger på stoffets forside. Således er ingen af siderne blevet en entydig ret- eller vrangside, men indeholder derimod elementer af begge dele. Farverne, funktionerne og forholdet til arkitekturen er andre aspekter af gardinets komplekse karakter. Det peger tilbage til Mariama og hendes stoffer og er samtidig ’oversat’ til en ny kontekst. Gardinet fået et eget liv i en ny sammenhæng.

Oversættelsens poetik

Som europæisk publikum og med begrænset kendskab til det afrikanske kontinent kommer man ikke uden om en oplevet afstand mellem sin egen horisont og den vi møder hos Amadou og hans familie. Værket befinder sig i en tilstand af oversættelse. Der er faktisk oversættelser på mange niveauer i Telling and Retelling. I videoerne er der altid en lokal oversætter med, som kan oversætte fra de lokale sprog wolof og fula til engelsk. Modsat underteksterne, som leverer en oversættelse i lingvistisk forstand, bliver oversætterens rolle i filmen snarere, at forsøg at forklare det der sker og siges i situationen for den udenforstående dansker. Således er oversætterens tilstedeværelse med til at påvirke situationen og dermed de fortællinger, der kan fremkomme. Der er altså flere oversættelseslag på spil i værket: fra ét sprogsystem til et andet; fra én horisont til en anden; fra én kosmologi til en radikalt anderledes.
Hvis vi tager afsæt i Walter Benjamins efterhånden berømte tanker om oversættelse, har vi at gøre med det forhold, at kildeteksten kun er startpunktet, som nødvendigvis bliver transformeret gennem genskabelse i et nyt sprog. Det banebrydende ved Benjamins tanker fra 1920’erne er, at han bevæger sig væk fra ideen om en original udgangstekst og en sekundær oversættelse, hvor originalen i princippet er uberørt af der sker med oversættelsen. I stedet bruger han metaforen om cirklen (forlægget) og tangenten (oversættelsen) som kun berører cirklen på ét enkelt punkt for derefter at fortsætte i sin egen bane. Men man kan også betragte oversættelse som noget, der sker i kulturen. Ifølge Boris Buden kan kultur og kulturel erfaring ikke oversættes, fordi de begge er dynamiske størrelser i tid og rum. Men vi kan forstå selve kulturen som en oversættelsesproces. I forlængelse af denne tankegang er det interessant at betragte, hvordan re-enactment eller genopførelsen blev et stort tema i performancekunsten i det 21. århundredes første årti. Inden for teateret og musikken betragtes performance typisk som en unik fortolkning af forlægget (manuskriptet, noderne), men vi kan også vælge at betragte det som en oversættelse fra én form til en anden.
Hvad sker der, hvis vi betragter udstillingen i vitrinen —optagelserne, video-redigeringen og det ’oversatte’ gardin— som genfortælling, genopførelse og oversættelse? Vel at mærke en oversættelse på postkoloniale betingelser — som en hybrid af samme art som den vandkande, der optræder flere steder i værket: Den er formet som en britisk te-kedel men fremstillet i genbrugsplast med kulørte striber. Hvis vi følger Benjamin og Buden og giver afkald på en ren og stabil original, må vi acceptere, at både den kulturelle erfaring der tages afsæt i og den kunstform, som skabes er dynamiske størrelser. Begge er allerede oversættelser. Amadou ønsker at formidle sin virkelighed til verden via Villesen og hendes film, og Villesen søger en form at rumme den i inden for sin kunstneriske og europæiske horisont. Selvom de blot berører hinanden i et enkelt punkt er denne relation afgørende — ikke som et punkt hvor noget transporteres, men som et sted hvor noget produceres.
Den åbenhed som Villesen tillader i relationen, muliggør en udveksling hinsides skellet mellem sand viden og overtro, mellem fakta og fiktion. Hun lader et andet verdensbillede trænge sig på i et rum der er fantastisk rummeligt. Kunsten tilbyder dette rum. Derfor er det interessant, hvad der sker, når denne praksis integreres på en uddannelsesinstitution, hvor der ikke ’står kunst over døren’: hvor de oversatte gardiner bliver en del af de studerendes hverdag, hvor vitrinen låner noget autoritet fra biblioteket og hvor websiten med film og formidlinger bliver det sted, hvor elementerne føres sammen og værkets konceptuelle dimensioner for alvor bliver klare. Dette er ikke en udsmykningsopgave, som man tænkte dem før i tiden. Ej heller er her tale om et stedsspecifikt værk, der glider ind i stedet. Det forbliver en udfordring til studerende og undervisere til selv at udfolde fortællingerne.
Judith Schwarzbart





Credits

The overall concept is made by Gitte Villesen, but many others have been involved in realising the project.


This is what I used to do
Cinematographer: Jonas Mortensen
Sound design: Martin Ehlers-Falkenberg
Colourgrading: Matilda Mester
Proofreading: William Wheeler
Response: Joerg Franzbecker and Dagi Knellesen
Editing advisor: Janina Herhoffer
Editing and field recording: Gitte Villesen
With: Momodou Bah, Lamin Diediou and Amadou Sarr
Produced together with: a production e.V., Berlin


Two Readings by Bubba Jallow
Translation from Fula: Bakary Diaby
Cinematographer: Jonas Mortensen
Sound design: Martin Ehlers-Falkenbergv Colourgrading: Matilda Mester
Proofreading: William Wheeler
Response: Joerg Franzbecker and Dagi Knellesen
Editing advisor: Janina Herhoffer
Editing and field recording: Gitte Villesen
With: Bubba Jallow, Mantel Sanneh, N’Dèye N’Diaye, Ebrima Touray, Ali Joop and Amadou Sarr
Produced together with: a production e.V., Berlin


Retelling Mariama’s Curtains
Installation views:
Galleri Nicolai Wallner, Copenhagen: Anders Sune Berg
Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory, Utrecht: Marten Kools
Centre d’art Passerelle, Brest: Nicolas Ollier and Gitte Villesen
Graz Kunstverein, Graz: Christine Winkler
Cinematography in Gambia: Jonas Mortensen and Gitte Villesen
Cinematographer and photographer at Campus Roskilde: Matilda Mester
Sound design: Martin Ehlers-Falkenberg
Colourgrading: Agnes Pokazdil
Photo Compositing: Malte Ludwigs
Proofreading: William Wheeler
Response: Joerg Franzbecker
Field recording: Gitte Villesen
Edit: Bruno Derksen and Gitte Villesen
Produced together with: a production e.V., Berlin


Vitrine
Curtain: Mariama Corr
Models for the retelling of Mariama’s curtain: Mona Kuschel / Couturereal
Bedcovers: Mariama Corr and her neighbor
Molo and flutes: Amadou Sarr
Photographs and video stills: Jonas Mortensen and Gitte Villesen Installation views from exhibitions where Mariama Corr’s curtains were used:
Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory, The Netherlands, photographer: Marten Kools Grazer Kunstverein, Austria, photographer: Christine Winkler
Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain, France, photographer: Nicolas Ollier
Colourgrading and print: Max-color
Layout of text plates: HIT
Proofreading: William Wheeler
The vitrine frame was constructed together with Adriaan Klein, Camillo Kuschel, Gottfried Knodt, and Andreas Müller

Film poster and film still
Layout: HIT
Cinematography: Jonas Mortensen
Colourgrading and print: Max-color
Proofreading: William Wheeler


Website
Layout, Development: HIT, Supercomputer
Texts: Judith Schwarzbart and Gitte Villesen
Photographers: Anders Sune Berg, Johannes Christoffersen and Matilda Mester
Proofreading: William Wheeler


Commissioned and supported by University College Zealand and The Danish Art Foundation


Kreditering
Det overordnede koncept er udviklet af Gitte Villesen, men mange andre personer har været involveret i realiseringen af projektet.


This is what I used to do
Filmfotograf: Jonas Mortensen
Lyddesign: Martin Ehlers-Falkenberg
Colourgrading: Matilda Mester
Korrekturlæsning: William Wheeler
Respons: Joerg Franzbecker og Dagi Knellesen
Redigeringskonsulent: Janina Herhoffer
Redigering og lyd: Gitte Villesen
Med: Momodou Bah, Lamin Diediou og Amadou Sarr
Produceret i samarbejde med: a production e.V., Berlin


Two readings by Bubba Jallow
Oversættelse fra fula: Bakary Diaby
Filmfotograf: Jonas Mortensen
Lyddesign: Martin Ehlers-Falkenberg
Colourgrading: Matilda Mester
Korrekturlæsning: William Wheeler
Respons: Joerg Franzbecker og Dagi Knellesen
Redigeringskonsulent: Janina Herhoffer
Redigering og lyd: Gitte Villesen
Med: Bubba Jallow, Mantel Sanneh, N'Deye N'Diaye, Ebrima Touray, Ali Joop og Amadou Sarr
Produceret i samarbejde med: a production e.V., Berlin


Retelling Mariama's curtains
Installationsfotos:
Galleri Nicolai Wallner, København: Anders Sune Berg
Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory, Utrecht: Marten Kools
Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain, Brest: Nicolas Ollier og Gitte Villesen
Graz Kunstverein, Graz: Christine Winkler

Filmfotograf i Gambia: Jonas Mortensen og Gitte Villesen
Filmfotograf og fotograf på Campus Roskilde: Matilda Mester
Lyddesign: Martin Ehlers-Falkenberg
Colourgrading: Agnes Pokazdil
Fotomontage: Malte Ludwigs
Korrekturlæsning: William Wheeler
Respons: Joerg Franzbecker
Lyd: Gitte Villesen
Redigering: Bruno Derksen og Gitte Villesen
Produceret i samarbejde med: a production e.V., Berlin


Vitrine
Gardin: Mariama Corr
Modeller til genfortællingen af Mariamas gardin: Mona Kuschel / Couturereal
Sengetæpper: Mariama Corr og hendes nabo
Molo og fløjter: Amadou Sarr
Fotografier og stillbilleder: Jonas Mortensen og Gitte Villesen
Dokumentation af Mariama Corrs gardiner i udstillingssammenhæng: Casco – Office for Art, Design and Theory, Holland / fotograf: Marten Kools; Grazer Kunstverein, Østrig / fotograf: Christine Winkler; Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain / fotograf: Nicolas Ollier
Farvekorrektur og tryk: Max-color
Skilte-layout: HIT
Korrekturlæsning: William Wheeler og Lotte Møller
Vitrinens ramme blev udviklet sammen med Adriaan Klein, Camillo Kuschel, Gottfried Knodt, og Andreas Müller


Filmplakat og filmstill
Layout: HIT
Filmfotografi: Jonas Mortensen
Farvekorrektur og tryk: Max-color
Korrekturlæsning: William Wheeler og Lotte Møller


Hjemmeside
Layout, Development: HIT, Supercomputer
Tekster: Judith Schwarzbart og Gitte Villesen
Fotografi: Anders Sune Berg, Johannes Christoffersen og Matilda Mester
Korrekturlæsning: William Wheeler og Lotte Møller


Kommisioneret og støttet af University College Sjælland og Statens Kunstfond
Gitte Villesen 2015