Interview with Wunderkind Collective
Reykjavík, 29th of September
Q: Why / when / how did you start to work with performance, what is your background, how did you arrive at doing performance?
Rakel had been fascinated by the performance medium since she started studying visual art at the Icelandic Art Academy in 2005, but the closest thing Bergþóra had come to doing a performance was reading her poetry to an audience. We had always liked each others work but we were working with different mediums - Rakel mostly with drawings and paintings, and Bergþóra in poetry and literature. The performance platform seemed like the right meeting place. We had this idea in 2011 to use the performance medium to create a space where we could turn our drawings and text into something three dimensional. We’ve been working together ever since.
Q: What is your process like when you make a performance, from idea to actual work?
In our work as Wunderkind we start by talking and sharing our ideas. With our performance series “The Days of the Child Prodigy are Over” we talked a lot about things like child prodigies and the focus on success in today's society. Then we went into our separate corners, Rakel worked the visuals; drawing the characters, the set and costumes and Bergþóra wrote the texts and worked on the storyline. This two-dimensional world was then turned into a performance where everything became alive. But our process is not exactly fixed, our process for our latest work “Waiting” is for example quite different, we collaborate more and are both involved in everything, but it also involves a lot of talking, it has been quite an organic process.
Q: Can you tell about your latest project?
The title is “WAITING”. You can see it at the PAO Festival.
Q: What role does performance art have in your life / artistic praxis? Do you also work within other fields, like installation, sculpture, drawing, other expressions? How do they influence / inform each other?
Rakel works mostly with drawing, painting and photography and for her the performance medium is both a way to explore her visual world and bring it to life but also the behaviour and actions that influence her subject matter in photography, drawing and painting. Bergþóra’s main medium is text - she writes poetry, has dabbled in script writing and is currently working on her first novel. Her writing is quite visual and absurd, which is why the performance element was so interesting to her and the performance praxis and the close cooperation with a visual artist has influenced her writing as well, especially her poetry.
Q: With what kind of form / material do you express yourself and use in your work and how did you arrive at using this material?
Wunderkind have been very lucky to work with a wonderful musician who has created a wonderful soundscape using Bergþóra’s texts and giving those absurd looking characters a voice.
Q: How do you experience or consider the audience / surrounding? What space / surrounding do you find interesting to work in? How does your surrounding influence your work? Do you involve the public? If so how?
We have been experimenting with trying to create a feeling of intimacy in our performances - to make the audience feel as voyeurs, intruders, and thus involving them in some way. But we haven’t made work that directly involves the public or public space- at least not yet!
Regarding space, it has been super interesting to re-create different versions of our performance for different contexts and settings. That way we learn something every time, we discover new aspects of our own work and try out different things, from creating a complex installation to stripping everything down for a black box. We have tried everything from a white cube space in a gallery, black box in a theatre to a conference room. What we have discovered is that for us, like Coco Chanel, less is more when it comes to props and stage.
Q: What do you find the hardest thing about performing? Do you always perform the work yourselves?
Performing is totally outside of our comfort zones. We are not actors, dancers or acrobats. But we find it important to deliver the work ourselves, it is a chance to explore the concept behind the performance.
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Q: Why / when / how did you start to work with performance, what is your background, how did you arrive at doing performance?
Rakel had been fascinated by the performance medium since she started studying visual art at the Icelandic Art Academy in 2005, but the closest thing Bergþóra had come to doing a performance was reading her poetry to an audience. We had always liked each others work but we were working with different mediums - Rakel mostly with drawings and paintings, and Bergþóra in poetry and literature. The performance platform seemed like the right meeting place. We had this idea in 2011 to use the performance medium to create a space where we could turn our drawings and text into something three dimensional. We’ve been working together ever since.
Q: What is your process like when you make a performance, from idea to actual work?
In our work as Wunderkind we start by talking and sharing our ideas. With our performance series “The Days of the Child Prodigy are Over” we talked a lot about things like child prodigies and the focus on success in today's society. Then we went into our separate corners, Rakel worked the visuals; drawing the characters, the set and costumes and Bergþóra wrote the texts and worked on the storyline. This two-dimensional world was then turned into a performance where everything became alive. But our process is not exactly fixed, our process for our latest work “Waiting” is for example quite different, we collaborate more and are both involved in everything, but it also involves a lot of talking, it has been quite an organic process.
Q: Can you tell about your latest project?
The title is “WAITING”. You can see it at the PAO Festival.
Q: What role does performance art have in your life / artistic praxis? Do you also work within other fields, like installation, sculpture, drawing, other expressions? How do they influence / inform each other?
Rakel works mostly with drawing, painting and photography and for her the performance medium is both a way to explore her visual world and bring it to life but also the behaviour and actions that influence her subject matter in photography, drawing and painting. Bergþóra’s main medium is text - she writes poetry, has dabbled in script writing and is currently working on her first novel. Her writing is quite visual and absurd, which is why the performance element was so interesting to her and the performance praxis and the close cooperation with a visual artist has influenced her writing as well, especially her poetry.
Q: With what kind of form / material do you express yourself and use in your work and how did you arrive at using this material?
Wunderkind have been very lucky to work with a wonderful musician who has created a wonderful soundscape using Bergþóra’s texts and giving those absurd looking characters a voice.
Q: How do you experience or consider the audience / surrounding? What space / surrounding do you find interesting to work in? How does your surrounding influence your work? Do you involve the public? If so how?
We have been experimenting with trying to create a feeling of intimacy in our performances - to make the audience feel as voyeurs, intruders, and thus involving them in some way. But we haven’t made work that directly involves the public or public space- at least not yet!
Regarding space, it has been super interesting to re-create different versions of our performance for different contexts and settings. That way we learn something every time, we discover new aspects of our own work and try out different things, from creating a complex installation to stripping everything down for a black box. We have tried everything from a white cube space in a gallery, black box in a theatre to a conference room. What we have discovered is that for us, like Coco Chanel, less is more when it comes to props and stage.
Q: What do you find the hardest thing about performing? Do you always perform the work yourselves?
Performing is totally outside of our comfort zones. We are not actors, dancers or acrobats. But we find it important to deliver the work ourselves, it is a chance to explore the concept behind the performance.
<< Back