tekstil

The works in Hymnosphere derive from several residencies at the Ny-Ålesund Centre for Arctic Scientific Research in Svalbard. Three woven tapestries depart from laser-reflectant depictions of the landscape around the research village, made in collaboration with a snow/avalanche researcher studying the changing conditions. Due to climate warming, Svalbard is experiencing an increase in rain-induced avalanches. The images of the avalanche that occurred during Serné’s stay at the research village resemble nightscapes or extraterrestrial landscapes. The similarity to stitches and threads made her want to translate these images into pixel-based patterns that can be read by a digital loom. As Sadie Plant observed in Zeros + Ones, textile images are not imposed on the surface of cloth. Instead, their patterns emerge from an active matrix that is implicit in a web, making them inherent to the processes from which they emerge.

A hymn is a type of song or choral lyric. It originates from the Greek word hymnos, which is grounded in the semantics of fabric-making.[1] Expanding on her work with singers and experienced whistlers, Serné made a polyphonic soundscape of whistling and humming for the tapestries.

[1] Weaving a Song. Convergences in Greek Poetic Imagery between Textile and Musical Terminology. An Overview on Archaic and Classical Literature, Giovanni Fanfani.

This exhibition is supported by Kulturrådet, Bergen Kommune and Kunstsentrene i Norge.