kingBIRD: Butterfly Valley
This project is inpired by the poem 'Butterfly Valley – a requiem' written by the Danish poet Inger Christensen.
A requiem is a death mass. Although death is the central scene in “Butterfly Valley” the poem is also a tribute to our fragile lives.
Form: The poems are written in the form of a classic, rhymed sonnet where rigid composition and repetition are the keystones. The form is ancient and very rigid, but it's the strength of the poem that the lines are repeated and translated into a new context and therefore changing significance. The constant recurrence patterns, shifting meanings and strict use of repetitions can be seen as process searching for cognition. In the classic sonnet there is an expectation that the text contains both an observation and a perception of something and an interpretation or an epistemological conclusion of those.
What is happening in the poem: The poem opens up with a spectacular sight of butterflies fluttering up in the midday heat in a valley in south Europe – exuding colour and warmth. For the narrator the flying butterflies awake glimpses of childhood memories, and thus begins the unfolding of the central topics of the poem; memory, nature, love, life and death. The narrative self is mirrored in nature and realizing herself as being enrolled as a part of it.
Death: The awareness of death is becoming more progressive throughout the poem. In the last sonnet the narrative self both reconciles herself with everything being finite, but also that the world still contains many moments of happiness.
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kingBIRD, Butterfly Valley, 2009, ceramic
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The built-in repetitions of the Sonnet Crown (Lines put into new contexts) are forcing the reader constantly to correct his or hers understanding of the poem. A reader trying to organize the poetry universe in a linear or hierarchical structure fails, because the universe is born labyrinthine. Nor is it possible to analyze the sonnet individually in order to assemble the partial analysis into an overall interpretation. The contrast between the tight composition of the poem and the feeling of the transient fluttering butterflies ensures that you must go along with the playful nature of the sonnet if you want an answer to your questions.
Firing Sculpture, Aarhus Academy of Fine Art, Denmark
It's been several years since this sculpture was build, however the memory of it still stands out very clear in my memory. It was an extraordinary experience of what clay is capable of as a material if you treat it right. It also taught me not to worry to much or be scared of the material - it's only clay. Just try out different things, actually the worst thing you can do working with clay is to put out taking the crusial decisions.
The sculpture before the kiln was build around it. It's me in the front of the picture. We only had five days to build, dry and fire the sculpture which is, if you think about it, far from realistic planning. And on top of that it was raining most of the time, so drying out the sculpture before firing it wasn't really happening. But we managed anyway, only with at tiny bit of damage to the sculpture.
Fring the sculpture (I'm sitting in the pile of wood). The sculpture is wrapped in ceramic felt which works as a kiln. We used around 5 tons of clay and 12 m3 of wood to fire it.
The sculpture revealed glowing in the night. When the sculpture are on top temperature it is unwrapped, imaging the heat radiating from 5 tons of clay fired to 1100 ° C. It glows for a surprisingly short time, before it turns dark, it is a bit like firework.
Despite the size, these firing sculptures are very fragile due to the harsh treatment they are exposed to in the firing and therefore often don't last long. Normally winter and frost erodes them.
The following day:
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