Paper short abstract:

This presentation will discuss notions of ethnographic surrealism and the convolution of imaginaries based on the performance Possible Worlds. It was initiated in collaboration with The Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm, and is based on surreal juxtapositions and layerings of sound and video.

Paper long abstract:

This paper takes its point of departure in the audiovisual performance Possible Worlds, which stems from a collaboration with The Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm (2014). Material from the museum was combined with sound and images collected on trips to different parts of the world. The result became a play with temporalities, place and performativity. Possible Worlds is now transformed into further iterations where the concept is developed.

In the performance recordings from early ethnographic expeditions are enmeshed with contemporary material from entirely different contexts. The material is mixed with computer generated electronic soundscapes, erasing the border between technologically generated expressions and material captured at concrete locations. Mundane everyday things collide with devotional objects, with undefined landscapes and actions as well as the non-place sounds from electronic circuits. The material is mixed through live improvisation during a 30 minute performance.

Possible Worlds is an attempt to explore notions of ethnographic surrealism and the interplay between evocation of worlds and situated performance. I use the notion of surrealism in an expanded sense, and draw on James Clifford's (1981) statement about ethnographic surrealism as a utopian construct and a statement at once about past and future possibilities for cultural analysis.

I will discuss notions of ethnographic surrealism and the convolution of imaginaries, and relate the discussion to my ongoing work with art probes. I will also discuss how Possible Worlds utilizes fragmentation and blur and the mixing and layering of sound and image in order to challenge notions of time and context.