Domestic Encyclopaedia
by annee grøtte viken
in collaboration with composer
marthe belsvik stavrum
prologue
The Domestic Encyclopaedia is a work dedicated to our relationship to the spaces closest to us; the spaces we inhabit, their origin and identity that make up what we call home. To the landscapes that we create, build, grow up and into, linger over and leave.
The work consists of seven chapters, each named after a domestic space found in and around a stereotypical idea of a house.
How do the spaces we inhabit and surfaces we tread on, affect us? What do they tell us about materials, the world, ourselves and each other? What happens when our landscapes becomes deceitful? When wood turn to plastic prints and stone to shallow cladding and cover floors, cupboards, tables and chairs? When we forget that concrete is creatures and paint can be seeds and not petroleum. How sand gave us windows and trees stems for our front doors.
When the spaces we inhabit grow increasingly more alien to the natural world, so do we. We let their purpose slip from memory and our bonds grow weak. The Domestic Encyclopaedia invites you to step back inside and probe their deep-seated nature. To open your eyes and watch the bathroom gush by, to smell the kitchen sizzle from on top of a rock, listen for the cellar to call your soul and taste the air kiss you goodnight as you quietly saunter the tiles of your living room floor.
LISTEN
( complete audio: chapter 1-7)
table of contents
chapters & visuals
1
The Ghost and The Garret
of Love Like a Kind of Snow
with ‘Sweet Evenings Come and Go, Love’ by George Elliot
2
The Bedroom & The Dreamer
Float In The Morning Sky
with ‘A Breath of Life’ by Clarice Lispector
3
The Bath & The Hot And
Never Tepid Privacy Lover
with ‘Zooey’ by J.D Salinger
4
The Living Room & The Living
Sea Calls Me Home
with the Nigerian folktale ‘Why the sun and the moon live in the sky’
5
The Kitchen ∞ Flip Tortilla
Oblique Kitchen Glossary
with ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ by Gabriel García Márquez
6
The Garden & The Botanist
(A) Prospect
with
‘Seduction Of The Minotaur’ by Anais Nin7
The Cellar And The Mason
Picture of a Night Scene
with ‘Voyage in the Dark’ by Jean Rhys
the project has been made possible
by trøndelag fylkeskommune
recorded and mastered at øra studio trondheim
special thanks to marthe (so many times), rachel,
the lebanese sajeria (lia!) that might be right (rob and paoletta),
ciiiva (tania!) and atelier nord oslo for providing space
and programs for visuals.
and all the spaces given life by the best rock loving, dancing,
furry and not, friends and family.