SPRANG by Maia Urstad and Hilde Hauan
Published
SPRANG, version Osterøy
made especially for the old Gjerstad-barn at Osterøy Museum
We are happy to invite you to the opening of Maia Urstad and Hilde Hauan’s work SPRANG on Saturday November 3rd at 15h in the Gjerstad-barn at Osterøy Museum. The exhibition will be opened by art historian Gunnar Danbolt and Mayor at Osterøy Jarle Skeidsvoll.
In the project SPRANG we see time through art, and tradition through modernity. SPRANG, version Osterøy, is made especially for the old Gjerstad-barn, and is a site-specific light- and sound installation based on transitions, or leaps (sprang); the tones in between and the threads in between, where sound and light are tied together and create a sparkling experience in an old space for life and work.
It will be possible to explore Osterøy before the opening, and there will be organized joint transport from Bergen on the occasion of the opening. See below for more information about possibilities and transport.
SPRANG version Osterøy (teaser) from BEK.no on Vimeo.
The starting point for the work SPRANG is found in ancient sources. Here the olden textile technique “sprang” (leap), meet soundly phenomenon such as overtones, soundwaves, and vibrations based on Pythagoras’ theories about the tuning of string instruments, acoustics and geometry. Sprang as a textile technique has been known in the Nordic region from the bronze age. The technique is a method to construct textiles by using stretched threads, and a simple kind of loom with only warp. The work touches upon themes such as crafts and human activity at all times.
In SPRANG at Osterøy Museum we meet a composition of sound that transforms into light and activates a tracery of optical fibres. The audience will be surrounded by a soundscape inside the barn, also giving room for the natural sounds outside; a bird, a tractor, wind, rain, which penetrates the walls and blends with the sounds inside. The light sifts in through the wooden planks and the wall made of juniper branches in the space; a mutual union of fibre and sound with the distinctiveness of the barn.
In collaboration with KORO – Public Art Norway, Osterøy Utvikling/Herlandsfossen and Osterøy Museum, BEK has made the framework for the artists Urstad and Hauan to show their collaborative project SPRANG in the autumn twilight in a barn from 1797. Osterøy Museum is an open-air museum and a center of culture knowledge in Western Norway. The museum has expertise in ancient craft techniques and traditions, and by showing the contemporary artwork SPRANG, the museum also demonstrate their ability to relate with our own time and to point far into the future.
Maia Urstad and Hilde Hauan have collaborated since 2007 on several fiber optical sound installations which has been shown at Trafo Kunsthall in Asker, SOFT Gallery in Oslo, Visningsrommet USF and Lydgalleriet in Bergen, the Article Biennial in Stavanger, Sogn og Fjordane Kunstmuseum in Førde, Nordnorsk Kunstmuseum in Tromsø and the Kaunas Biennial at the National Museum in Kaunas, amongst others.
BEK and Anne Marthe Dyvi has been working together with the artists for this project since 2013. The project started off as part of the study of “Herlandsfossen power station at Osterøy as a venue for adventure”, and is thought to be further developed for the pipeline at the power station. We look forward to continue the dialogue with Osterøy Utvikling/Herlandsfossen about this, and consider this exhibition of SPRANG at Osterøy Museum as an intermediate goal. This phase of the project is kindly supported by KORO – Public Art Norway, Osterøy Museum and BEK.
Installing in collaboration with the artists
Fiber: Jon Vegard Bruaas Handeland
Sound: Lars Ove Toft
Raw material for the sound image is by the guitarists Tom Erik Brudvik and Ivan Resin
More about Hilde Hauan here.
More about Maia Urstad here.
Read about Urstad and Hauan’s SPRANG in Bygdanytt here (Norwegian only).
More about Osterøy Museum here.
Practical information
Opening November 3rd 2018 at 15.00
At Osterøy museum, Gjerstad, 5282 Lonevåg
How to get there
Joint transport on the opening day:
At 13.45 – meet up at the train station in Bergen
13.58 – train to Arna (arrival at 14.07)
14.15 – private bus to Osterøy Museum at Gjerstad
14.35 – arrival at Osterøy Museum
Return with bus from Osterøy Museum
17.48 – train from Arna to Bergen (arrival at 17.57)
By private car:
Bergen- Gjerstad ca. 40 min.
OSTERØY-MENU
If you would like to get a taste of Osterøy before the opening, there are many great hiking opportunities. We especially recommend Bruviknipa, or you can go to Hosanger to walk in the beautiful Kossdalen up Kossdalssvingene.
Before or after walking in Kossdalen, you should stop by Mjøsvågen Landhandleri for a cup of coffee, a bun and a some Saturday shopping.