A K Dolven
Through her work with photography, film and video, A K Dolven has revitalized the Norwegian landscape tradition. She achieved this by combining a formally rigorous expression with the absence of a narrative line, while at the same time the images also contains references to the symbolism in the works of Edvard Munch and Caspar David Friedrich, among others.
© A K Dolven, moving mountain, 2004, filminstallation, 4:11 min
The central motif in the film moving mountain (2004) is a massive bird nesting cliff draped in fog. It is filmed in coastal Lofoten. The cliffs occupy most of the image
area, with a clearing of the sky. The cliffs’ protrusions have saturated black nuances, and there is lush green vegetation
over their crest. The fog lies like a hazy filter over the motif. The birds fly seemingly out of nowhere, in suggestive movements,
in and out of the clearing. At the bottom edge we see two female figures, a blond woman to the left and a dark-haired woman
to the right. There is a close atmosphere in the film which is underscored by both the women’s nearly static participation
and the insistent soundtrack of the birds’ screams. As the film progresses first one woman and then the other turn toward
each other, but without any kind of acknowledgment. Despite the fog beginning to lift and the surroundings lightening, a sense
of drama lingers in the film. The drama plays out on two levels: the lack of contact between the women and the cliffs’ powerful
presence in dialogue with the birds’ screaming.
A K Dolven was born in Oslo in 1953. She lives and works in London, Berlin and Oslo.
Eva Klerck Gange