The Return - Actions in a Church
3 hour performance alongside 4 other artists at Storetveit Kirke, Bergen.
Two days prior Bjørn Venø performed a private acquisition ritual at the beach on Venøy. Venø discovered the Tools laying in the shore line. Placed them in a cave on the beach for two hours of acclimatisation. Venø returned with a suitcase, carried one object a time from the cave and through water to be placed carefully in to the suitcase.
At the Church, Venø's first action before the audience arrived was to place his Performance Tools in the space.
During the performance Venø interacted with and strived to give and share energy with his Tools, the space, the audience the other artists in particular the dancer Roskva Yasmin Andersen and the music of Ruth Bakke.
The performance is connected to a larger project titled The Return, which is exploring and reconnecting with the island Venøy where Bjørn Venø grew up and now resides.
Event title: BEBUDELSER (ANNOUNCEMENTS)
Location: Storetveit Church, Bergen
Time: Saturday 16th October 11.00-15.00
Performers: Bjørn Venø (artist), Karen Kipphoff (artist, scenographer), Roskva Yasmin Andersen (dancer), Ruth Bakke (organist, composer), Sigmund Skard (artist)
Composer: Ruth Bakke (organ)
Organisers: Rita Marhaug and Anette Friedrich Johannessen for Performance Art Bergen (PAB)
Photographs of perfomance by: Bjarte Bjørkum
Photographs of objects by: Bjørn Venø
Before the performance started – the audience were welcomed at the menighetshuset (parish house), where the themes were presented:
Professor Ståle Johannes Kristiansen talked about the annunciation within the context of art history, and about Mary and her place within the Lutheran Church.
Artist Eleanor Clare talked about how we might begin to interpret and learn from subconscious or bodily signals through the medium of art.
Drama Lecturer Grete Meyer discussed performance in a church context.
Parish Priest Jan Helge Gram Eggestøl said a few words about transcendental and spiritual experience in art and religion.
