Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts

And thus the firmament is like a human head; the sun, moon and stars are the eyes; the air is our sense of hearing, the winds our sense of smell, the dew our taste; the sides of the cosmos are like our arms and our sense of touch. And the other creatures that are in the world are like our stomach, but the earth is our heart. As the heart holds the body together from top to bottom, so the earth is a secure land for the waters on its surface and a firm resistance to the waters beneath the earth to prevent them from wrongly breaking out.

‘The Cosmos: The Music of the Firmament’, Causae et Curae, Hildegard von Bingen

In the Project Space, Hordaland Kunstsenter presents Visus Tactus Gustus by Eleanor Clare and Dillan Marsh. In this installation of new works the artist duo take inspiration from Munkeliv kloster that was established ca.1110 by King Øystein Magnusson. The remains of themonastery are hidden under the car park outside the art centre. Using plainchant, the melodies used to sing the liturgies of the Church, blowing raspberries (lip trills) into clay vessels, writing and drawing, they explore the emotional experience of embarking upon a creative process with the concepts of ‘diving into’ or being ‘swallowed by’ in mind. 

Eleanor Clare has a background in live performance, sound installation, voice and writing, while Dillan Marsh has worked with installation. Their collaboration began as an exploration into how the reflective nature of writing and the driving force of art making can influence one another. It has since become a meeting of performed action with installation, object and text. The duo work with field recordings, research in archives and experimentation with writing, voice, performance, making objects and drawings. 

See more from Clare and Marsh here.

The exhibition is supported by Bergen Kommune, Norwegian Arts Council, Bildende Kunstneres Hjelpefond and BEK.