Rott Island: Performance Exercises

The residency is placed on a remote island on the Atlantic coast with less than five permanent inhabitants, no food shops and no commercial traffic. These premises will be part of a site-specific investigation and response as I am to stay here for two weeks.

Every day I will collect experiences and translate the material into fourteen performance exercises which may in turn be performed by you if you so choose. I will focus on the connection and dialogue between fluidity and solidity as a consistent concept.

DAY ONE: TAKE ME TO THE END OF TIME

I look at maps showing where the international time zones are drawn. Vertical lines separate England from Norway, and just at the tip of this island the line of time is marked by 01+UTC. In these waters, I will be sailing into crossing time zones. At the pier I am picked up by a resident and experienced sailor who knows how to navigate the perilous reefs. I share with him my fascination for the phenomena of time zones as they are an abstraction and simultaneously a concrete aspect of organization. Liquid borders. I ask if we may stop the engine at the open sea and at the approximate site where the time zones cross. We stay here for 8 minutes (8 representing eternity). The boat is drifting in the currents and I turn my face to the direction of solid land and attempt to voice boundlessness. At the end of one time zone and the beginning of another. It's April and the light creates a time-specific filter: Sunrise across this line– 06.03.Sunrise within this line – 07.03. Sunrise between crossing timelines – eternal.

Performance Exercise Nr 1: Contemplate time and boundlessness at the approximate site of two time zones intertwining. Try to express the notion of a liquid border with sound.

DAY TWO: WINDSWEPT GEOPHONY

Contemplating how winds differ in various geographies and places. Reading about soundscape ecology as the science of sound by landscape, an auditory portrait of nature. Sounds produced by environments used as arguments for protection and preservation. Here the soundscape of wind is constantly present, refreshing my cheeks, playing with my hair then suddenly switching and becoming icy slaps and humiliating my attempts to stand upright. Everything is visibly moving but rocks. The trees adapt their shapes by bending and growing in line with the horizon. The strength of the wind is now measured to 23 m/s. No boats leave or arrive on the island today, respecting the increasing risks. In the city, I keep less notice of the implications of wind. Here the wind decides where and how I go, seeking shelter behind rocks to catch my breath. There is a full storm warning tonight and throughout the day the compositions are noted. The wolf-like howling and sharp whistles, the squeaks and clashes, the confrontation of materials hitting the walls and the structural core of the residence.

Performance Exercise Nr 2: On a windy day, respond to the wind by playing back the various strengths and compositions with your voice. Continue until there is a sense of equivalence.

DAY THREE: NOTES IN THE MARGIN

I have selected some books to read for this stay, one of them being “Desert Islands” by philosopher Gilles Deleuze. I discover the cover is faded by sun exposure, small bite marks at the upper right corner. There are a multitude of notes in the margin. It's been years since I last dived into the material and anthology, a literary criticism and appraisal of thinkers like Spinoza, Bergson, Nietzsche, Foucault and Sartre. An attempt to connect reflections made on the geography of the island on which Deleuze is residing. Contemplating ways to activate theory; yesterday I went on a long walk and met one of the three people permanently living here. He asked me what I was doing; I said I write and then I make actions. I write and perform my writing. I don’t separate writing from art or what I do. Then he said, “When I see you next time, I will know the essence of what you have been writing in the morning?” “Yes, exactly. You will see the translation.” He smiles and nods his head. “That’s what I do too! I am a historian.”

Performance Writing Nr 3: Select a book that you read many years ago, preferably one with notes in the margin. Read the book again and register how your thoughts have changed. Choose a sentence and look for ways to make it happen.

DAY FOUR: A SONG FOR KELP AND SEALS

No food shops and I mean to adapt by fishing but after several failed attempts, a local tip is received; there is little to no fish near the island for the last few years due to industrial overfishing and the increasing amounts of seals. The open seas will be the option but not today or this week with storm season. The pines have not yet had new shoots. Seashells are stranded next to sewage and forage is scarce. But I find ramson and observe huge kelp forests. Kelp is rich with vitamins and minerals such as zinc, magnesium, iron, potassium and calcium. On the other hand, kelp should not be eaten as a main dish as it also contains iodine and potential harmful metals. I pick samples of truffle, bladder, sugar and forest kelp, wash and set them to dry with the intention of making kelp salt. A site-based diet would involve growing vegetables, foraging, preserving and fermenting, diving for shells and joining the boats for fish and seasonal lobster. With a limited timeframe there are few to no options. But I brought some rice and fasting is an alternative. With that decision, I will have a dip in the ocean and merge with the kelp forest. As I prepare for a freezing dip, I look for seals and hope to make a bioacoustics encounter. Seals use the same neural structures as humans and may present pitch recognizable as melody.

Performance exercise Nr 4: Whilst fasting, have a swim in a kelp forest. Try to stay floating and copy the movements of seaweed. Bring the observed movements on land and keep dancing with kelp as you sing for and with seals.

DAY FIVE: THE MUNDANE SHIFTS TO SURREAL

This island Rott is mentioned in Norse literature and the name traces to raun (or raudn) meaning rock. Some hundred years ago, tall ships anchored and bought shiploads of stone to build the port of Amsterdam. Another ship capsized with a vast cargo of apples and unintentionally supplied the residents with apples for months. The cows and sheep also enjoyed the fruit and roaming the fields spread seeds, today randomly placed apple trees serve as a reminder. The many stories of this place shift abruptly from mundane to surreal, having coffee and nothingness to suddenly having your morals tested by life and death matters. Varying acts of boredom shift to altruism when sea-guides save lives at the cost of their own. High contrasts of extreme poverty and sudden wealth. These rugged shores have witnessed both large population and modern evictions leaving three remaining permanent inhabitants. One of them I meet on my daily walk. We share observations on her dog's charisma. I am allowed to take portraits and we share the amusement that his nose aligns to the shape of the background hill manifesting a majestic presence.

Performance exercise Nr 5: Make a series of portraits of an encounter with an animal. Take a photo and look for ways to emphasize characteristics with surroundings. Try to inhabit these characteristics in your gestures for the remains of the day.

DAY SIX: SCREEN ON SCREEN- HUMAN CONDITION

Wireless access reduces economic disparities between city and rural areas, allowing new ways of living. Thematization of the screen as a condition of experience strengthens the awareness of how the screen performs. This theme leaps to the surface this very morning as a snow storm hits the window screen. Through it, I have access to a weather observatory and become aware of the contrast of my screensaver’s static image and the untamed wildlife outside. I take a photo of the window and make that my screensaver. Comparing the two likenesses, the image on the screen and the view from the window, one is slightly darker than the other. A comparison promoting consciousness by estranging elements. dialogue between representational and imaginary boundaries. What are the implications when screen upon screen become integral as a human condition?

Performance exercise Nr 6: Take a photo of your surroundings and replace your screensaver with a photo of it. Compare and make a decision on which screen to watch for the next hour. Keep watching your chosen “screen” for the remainder of the week.

DAY SEVEN: TWO LIGHTS TALK IN THE NIGHT

Here the presence of electric light pollution is next to none. When the night falls and dark surrounds me, I see only two lights. One from a GREEN lantern at a nearby reef flashing in short intervals every third second. The other is from a lighthouse on the mainland, Tungenes. its YELLOW light flashing every seventh second. Separated or joined by darkness, the rhythm creates a dialogue where one listens more than the other. I am reminded of the art piece “Onochord” when Yoko Ono morse with a flashlight into the dark. I have kept the mini flashlight given to me at the same exhibition. I have since established the habit of re-performing this piece on chosen occasions. I send flashes of light with my intention into the dark with recent encounters in mind as I repeat words with heart and intention.

Performing exercise Nr 7: Two people with two flashlights one with YELLOW filter and the other with GREEN filter. When darkness falls, choose a location in sight, with distance between you. Flash your colored lights towards each other.. Try to create and maintain a conversation of rhythms.

DAY EIGHT: KALEIDOSCOPIC DIALOGUE

Gilles Deleuze is into flux and co-wrote “Dialogues” with Claire Parnet to emphasize the interest. The interest of co-writing, co-actions and fluid borders feels relevant, and I collect quotes and assemble layers searching for inter- and intratextual possibilities.

"When you work, you are necessarily in absolute solitude. But it is an extremely populous solitude. Populated not only with dreams, phantasms or plans, but with encounters. An encounter is perhaps the same thing as a becoming. It is from the depth of this solitude that you should make encounter.” (Pg. 6)

“In reality writing does not have its end in itself, precisely because life is not an end. Or rather, the aim of writing is to renounce any claim to territory. To write has no other function: to be a flux which combines with other fluxes – all the minority –becoming of the world.” (Pg. 50)

“Moving at each movement; not changing, but moving in entirety with the aid of a gesture, of a word, of a vocal sound, like a kaleidoscope forming new combinations every time.” (Pg. 16)

Performance writing exercise Nr 8: Choose a book on the basis of its title. Carefully select sentences and assemble anew. Then choose one word only and look for a visual representation in your surroundings. Perform the word.

PS: In my case I chose the word kaleidoscope, represented by snow on a window performing a kaleidoscopic view and dialogue between solid glass and liquid snow. I performed the observation by dancing contrasting hard and soft movements.

DAY NINE: SACRED ROCK-HOLY FISH

The eyes of the Halibut fish have simultaneous contact with the ground and the sky, thus is an apt metaphor for spiritual presence noted by cultures such as Inuit, Norse and Sami. It also masters camouflage, becoming one with its environment as the flat shape of fish and sea floor reflects the lines of the horizon and the eternal. The fish is also identified with rituals of gratitude: Giving and sacrificing fish bones to sacred stone or smearing stones with fish fat in spring before fishing season to increase luck and spiritual growth is an ancient ritual. Archeologists have confirmed the find of a stone at Rott where acts of sacrifice were once performed. The historian gives me clues on how to find this stone. Upon finding it, I notice three carved holes in a row, something he asked me to look for. I bring a cleaned fishbone that has been residing in my pocket and place it on the stone. I sit for a length of time before I find a sentence that carries authenticity. I speak it out loud.

Performance exercise Nr 9: Find a rock that you feel a connection to, bring a degradable object of desire and give it to the stone. Befriend the situation by staying for a length of time that challenges you beyond comfort. Express gratitude if you find it.

DAY TEN: THE ORNITHOLOGIST & THE OYSTERCATCHERS

At the very moment I contemplate the contradicting pleasure of having seen no humans today, I see a human in camouflage walking past me carrying a camera. The human takes photos of birds and doesn't seem to spot me observing. From this perspective, I could be the ornithologist and the ornithologist could be the bird. The bird watcher disappears from sight and next comes two oystercatchers walking into sight. The Graphic black and white of the feathers and bright orange beaks are a visual contrast to the general mustard and gray color scheme of the ground. These birds spend most of their time walking and stay together with monogamous affinity. The oystercatchers are active both night and day and therefore dominate the soundscape. Aware of the tides, they catch their food in the rising and rest with the sinking of the tide, adapting to the moonrise and moonset. I find it amusing that the ornithologist missed out on the oystercatchers and the birds are now walking in the ornithologist’s footprints.

Performance exercise Nr 10: Follow the path of oystercatchers or a bird of kinship for one day and one night. Dress in camouflage and try not to intrude, follow from a respectful distance. Contemplate anthropocentrism and your contribution to it.

DAY ELEVEN: HIDE & SEEK

The existential and paradoxical human desire to leave a trace, monument or legacy. I contemplate sustainable alternatives. If I am to leave something, I want it to be biodegradable objects and ephemeral actions. As I observe the interior of the residency, I notice signs of previous residents. Matches, salt and candles, some potatoes left to sprout. I will plant the potatoes in the ground by the residency and leave a note for the next guest to check the potential. I also want to leave something for the random passerby. I found natural clay for sculptural play and with this concept I find a purpose. I make a clay copy of a fish bone and decide to leave both next to each other in the landscape. The sun and the rain will eventually return its minerals to the ground but present a variation in material attributes and timeline of decay. They may never be found or noted by anyone but me, but they exist nevertheless.

Performance exercise Nr 11: Choose a found biodegradable entity, make a copy with natural clay. Place both on a chosen site and document the different timelines of decay.

Note to reader: The sculptures were found a week later by a person with a keen eye of interest. Frode Skarstein a writer and biologist in evolutionary ecology. He found my name with the note on potatoes planted and sent photos documenting the decay. Floating encounters.

DAY TWELVE: HOW THIS PLACE CHANGES WHAT I DO AND THE WAY I DO IT

Staying at a remote island ultimately changes how I organize my every day. Waking up at sunrise, with natural light and letting the absence of electrical lights determine when I go for a walk. I am totally dependent on reading the weather. I organize myself around how to stay warm. The sterling darkness inspires my voice which grows in strength and expression. My imagination is aroused by thoughts of what lies beyond the blackened horizon that both separates and connects. During the day, the rapid changes of weather push my observation skillsat each moment. The permanent exposure of stones and skies creates a dynamic that expands earthy grounding with a watery dialogue of metaphysics. With the wind on my back, I become a sail and with the wind in my face, I activate a strong sense of resistance. My feet have walked on landscapes with no man-made path, my eyes guided by fixed points on the horizon and drawing a line in the air from where I am and where I want to go; the line from the tree to the rock on the hill are my guides. It is the free gaze that creates the path, and I enjoy this contrast to the city where I follow predetermined roads and routes.

Performance exercise Nr 12: Write a text based on longing for a place to return, translate to a foreign language. The intent is not to understand language or words but to get lost in phonetics. Allow yourself to voice the phonetics to no one but the dark.

DAY THIRTEEN: SIDE EFFECTS

Every day I have been looking for seals and otters that are rumored to be on site. Every moving shape I see in the waters is interpreted as a possible seal. I tune in to their surroundings and imagine how their environment must have changed through time. I dive into the depths of the cold water. I am here and at the same time, my thoughts are connected to global turbulence. I pick up trash every day. It is endless and I am saddened by the sight of facemasks still washing up on these shores. I read an article from the Washington post by Scott Wilson titled "The pandemic side effects", one being face-masks polluting marine life. Experiences in the aftermath of the pandemic vary greatly depending on the particular place and social economic condition. What is the collective retrospective or take away from the pandemic? What did we learn from the experience?

Performance Exercise Nr 13: Make a list of changes that affected you during the pandemic. Then make a list of which of these changes that you no longer are affected by. Hug someone for more than twenty minutes.

DAY FOURTEEN: LEAVING THE ISLAND IF THE STORMS ALLOW

When I planned my arrival, the sailor who agreed to transport me said I should call him a day prior to evaluate whether or not it was a good day to got. Lambs expected to be born also hold priority over my departure. Another consideration is the unpredictable strength of the wind. Lambs and wind are the deciding factors – got it. The same variables should be expected for the return journey, perhaps I will depart, perhaps not. Adapting to the uncontrollable is a collective skill that modern society currently and unwillingly struggles with and will have to relearn. People who live here are avant-garde to this adjustment. I spend this day looking for a small rock to be sent by post across the seas. I wish to send it to a friend in England. I would like the rock to represent connections with this specific place and qualities outside of its apparent physicality. I settle on one rock in which layers of sediment are visible by lines that simultaneously look like waves in the water.

Performance exercise Nr 14: Look for a small rock, small enough to be put in a letter. Look for a rock that represents layers of sediment and deep time. Send it to someone across an ocean. Ask this person to send it back and when you receive it, place it back where you once found it.

FIN.

Encounters: The sailor and resident farmer Brynjulf Kristiansen. The historian Atle Skarsten.The resident Elfrid Rott. Ornithologist- still unknown. And Bio ecologist Frode Skarsten.

The residency was granted by Sola County Council.

Anne-Marte Eidseth Rygh is an artist and curator with a text based and performative approach. Site specific investigations, geopolitical recess and ecofeminist ideology have been the consistent interests of recent productions. She has a (BA) in Performance Writing and an (MA) in Art and Place from Plymouth University (UK).