Photos: 1 – Mila Elisabeth Larvoll (Prøverommet at Nordnes Sjøbad 3.6.2024) 2 – Luke Drozd and Owen Weaver in process 3 – Frida Agerhus Vikström’s ‘Soaker’ (2024) 4 – Modalen by Hildegunn Dale 5 – Field work by Sarah Damai Hoogman 6 – videostill by Thomas Brudvik 7 – Fusafjord by Jógvan Helge Gardar

Forside Prøverommet at Nordnes Sjøbad

Prøverommet

Prøverommet at Nordnes Sjøbad

Dato

Tid

Sted

Dato

Tid

Sted

Monday 17. February 2025

19:00 – 21:00

Nordnes Sjøbad

Buy ticket

Tilgjengelighet Accessible with wheelchair No blackout No stage smoke or scents No strobe lights

Welcome to the season’s first Prøverommet at the city’s beloved Nordnes Sjøbad, an outdoor swimming pool close to the sea, with participating artists: Luke Drozd & Owen Weaver, Thomas Bruvik, Frida Agerhus Vikström, Hildegunn Dale, Sarah Damai Hoogman and Jógvan Helge Gardar. You can expect wet sculpture, nature writing, bubble sounds, abstract audiovisuals and a fun time. Don’t forget your swimwear!

Frida Agerhus Vikström

Frida Agerhus Vikström’s work often speculates on the slippery interactions between people and their surroundings. They write prose and poetry as well as make installations of sculptures, found materials and viscous substances.

Frida will present an expanded iteration of their work, Soaker, as a series of works scattered around Nordnes Sjøbad. Among other things, a fountain of dirty laundry (artist’s own) will be left to soak in a flow of water by the poolside, spreading into the sauna for a steam, and a pair of tennis socks in love (sole-mates).

Hildegunn Dale

Hildegunn Dale is a west-Norwegian author from Modalen and presents a pre-recorded reading of her text ‘Modalen and the fantastic tour map’, which will be played on loop in the sauna.

The Norwegian text was written over a week’s trip from Mo to Ortnevik. The first part of the tour goes in the area where a wind farm is now planned, in a 55 square kilometer continuous high mountain area at 720-1200 m above sea level, in Modalen municipality and Stølsheimen. In March this year, a referendum on the wind farm will be held among the 388 residents, and it is the municipality that will make the final decision.

Jógvan Helge Gardar

The texts from Jógvan Helge Gardar are taken from work at the Skrivekunstakademiet, where the focus has been particularly on capturing a mood, then controlling it and manipulating it in various ways. In this sense, the texts are short snapshots of situations, but also try to illustrate relationships through external objects.

Jógvan Helge Gardar is a trained lawyer and linguist, originally from Oslo. Going to the Skrivekunstakademiet this year, but also working with criticism and translation from Faroese to Norwegian.

Luke Drozd and Owen Weaver

‘Wet Percussion’ is the first of a series of collaborations between artist Luke Drozd and percussionist Owen Weaver. This new work will attempt to burble and bubble as well as splish and splash as the pair attempt to (w)ring out the voice of the sjøbad through sounds found and made in and around its sloshing form. BLUB!

Luke is a multi-disciplinary artist, working with collage, collecting and collaborative improvisation, often exploring the forgotten, lost and overlooked, while Owen is a percussionist who combines the forces of rhythm, noise and silence in search of musical potential.

Sarah Damai Hoogman

Sarah Hoogman is an interdisciplinary artist, currently in residence at Kunstnarhuset Messen in Ålvik. At Prøverommet, Sarah will present a performative installation from her ‘Arctic Echoes’ series, which explores the inaudible and invisible emissions of methane from melting permafrost in the Arctic.

The installation consists of interactive LED embroidered maps, marking coordinates on Spitsbergen where field research was conducted. Each coordinate triggers a corresponding methane bubble recording and other local sounds.

Thomas Bruvik

Thomas Bruvik works primarily with lighting, design and technology. For Prøverommet, he will project video material into the pool, with the aim of testing different types of materials diffused by water and movement.

Thomas is based in Bergen and collaborates with companies and choreographers such as 71BODIES/Daniel Mariblanca and Happy Gorilla Dance Company. He is employed part-time as a lighting technician at Carte Blanche. He often works with an interdisciplinary approach to projects, and appreciates connections that can be explored through light, sound and video, in collaboration as well as independently.

Frida Agerhus Vikström (they/them) holds an MFA from Bergen Art Academy (2024). They live and work between Bergen and Copenhagen. Vikström is interested in a written and material language of wetness, leaks and moisture as a point of departure for telling stories of queer self, transformations, intimacy and belonging. They investigate concepts of self as porous and mutable, continually made and remade in the encounter with the surrounding world. These encounters involve exchanges that leave traces on one another such as staining, contaminating, making out with, exchanging fluids, binding inside to outside.

Hildegunn Dale (b.1974), is a west-Norwegian writer from Modalen. She has published eight poetry collections. The latest is ‘Huset jorda i vatn’ (Samlaget 2024). ‘Modalen og det fantastiske turkartet’ was originally published in Harvest magazine. Norsk vind wants to build 100 turbines, with associated roads in Modalen. The road network will be 98 kilometers long. Each crane site 3000 square meters. The windmills will be up to 220 meters high, with rotor blades of 170 meters. The DNT cabin Skavlabu will be surrounded by windmills, and must be demolished. The area in question is currently used for outdoor recreation, sheep grazing, hunting and fishing. DNT has a network of hiking trails that run through the planned area, which is characterized by great tranquility with hunting falcons, ptarmigans, small lakes, streams and mountain bogs.

Luke Drozd is a multi-disciplinary artist, working with collage, collecting and collaborative improvisation. Using mediums including long-form film, print and audio composition, my work explores the forgotten, lost and overlooked.

Owen Weaver is a percussionist who combines the forces of rhythm, noise and silence in search of musical potential. He has toured Europe, South America, Asia and the US and has taught at the Grieg Academy, Yale, Cornell, CalArts and currently plays with BIT20 Ensemble.

Sarah Damai Hoogman: I work at the intersection of art, science, ecology and technology by using artistic (semi-scientific) research, vibrations (sound and light), and visual transformations. Focussing on science, nature and ecological changes, I try to understand nature’s systems by reducing the enormity of the universe and natural phenomena to the human sale. A recurring theme in my work is translation of large-scale, imperceptible processes in nature, into tangible experiences. I research the limitations of human perception and explore how art can serve as a mediator between the human and non-human. My projects often involve fieldwork, data collection, and technological experimentation, leading to installations and soundscapes that reveal hidden environmental dynamics.

What is Prøverommet?

Prøverommet has been running at BIT Teatergarasjen for over 25 years, first in Teatergarasjen at Nøstet, and since 2008 popping up at various venues throughout the seasons. It’s a space to try out new artistic material in front of an audience using any medium: dance, theatre, poetry, visual art, music… almost 2500 projects have been presented so far!

Stay tuned by signing up to the mailing list, following on Instagram or checking the webpage.