“Are You Ready?” by Frans Jacobi & Gitte Sætre
Published
Are You Ready?
Frans Jacobi and Gitte Sætre
Performance, video, online TV-series
I am a dead tree from the Norwegian woods on a journey into the world of humans. My name is “The Living Unliving Surveillance Poet”, and every full moon I report back to nature through a very special tele channel on the world wide web, due to all species’ needing to be prepared for what’s coming.
You might think, WOW that’s a bit odd – well, everything is surreal at the moment. You need to be open to things out of the ordinary in these extraordinary times. Metaphysics is full of mystical coincidences and the first step to see things clearly is to not dismiss anything, but indeed expand one’s senses of what reality might entail.
Oh Dear, this is exciting! What do you say, Are You Ready?
Are You Ready? is supported by The Norwegian Arts Council, The Danish Art Foundation, BEK/Future DiverCities, City of Bergen, University of Bergen/KMD, NBK Vederlagsfondet, The Audio & Visual Fund Norway.
The Living Unliving Surveillance Poet (reborn 2020, Skjolden) is a dead tree, ascending from the waters below the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s cottage of contemplation, located in the deepest of the deepest fjords of Norway. The tree is a manifestation of a future that has now become present. The illogical logic of the human world is now being monitored by The Living Unliving Surveillance Poet who has embarked on a long expedition to understand the climate of the state of being. The TV-series Are You Ready? premiers on the full moon at the end of November and each of the following episodes are in tune with the full moon cycles. Are You Ready? is a collaboration between the Surveillance Poet and the artists Frans Jacobi & Gitte Sætre.
Are You Ready?
Gitte Sætre’s (b. 1975, Bergen) oeuvre deals with current and relevant issues such as climate change, neoliberal ideological patterns, as well as cultural radicalism. Her body of work is characterized by the weight of contemporary society, yet opening room for humor and quiet reflection. Previous projects include Woman Cleaning (2014-2019), The Soups&Stories Project (2014-2017), Magic of Seven (2016) and The Green Hijab Movement (2014-2019).
Gitte Sætre’s website.
Frans Jacobi (b. 1960, Copenhagen) works with performance, film and text. His art addresses political crises, seen through dark poetic humor. In 2015 he started the ongoing research-project Synsmaskinen and in 2017, he and Gitte Sætre initiated The Green Hijab Movement. Jacobi is Professor of Time-based Art and Head of Department at the Academy of Fine Arts – department of Contemporary Art, University of Bergen.
Frans Jacobi’s website.
Latent City
Latent City presents artistic productions dealing with the city’s hidden stories. Seen through the lens of artistic observation, hidden stories, latent infrastructures and questions of digital presence and of power and democracy in our cities, meet in an exhibition that takes place over three weeks. The Latent City is the city that awaits, the one that is about to unfold, our common future city.
Several of the art projects are financed or commissioned by BEK, while others are existing works presented in new formats. A video program will be on show throughout the project period and there will be an extensive program of talks and performances. Please read more about the project and the programme here.
