Photo: Kjersti Sundland
Animaphany is a mixture of discovery and repetition. What remains and what is added in the translation from one language to another? or the original content when told by new voices? – when historical content is reintroduced in the present, what direction does the time travel go?
Animaphany is an art project in the form of a five-episode online soundwork and artist book that will be launched in the spring of 2025. The work’s title is a neologism sprung from animism and hierophany, borrowed from professor of ecology and religious studies, Andy Lechter. Through oral storytelling and dialogue, the project explores awareness, identity, and belonging. Each episode is based on “reenactments” of conversations that have occurred back in time. The various dialogues explore the dissolution of thought patterns, the impact of nature and plants on our psyche, and our relationship with each other and the other. Each episode has a story that links it historically, geographically and mythologically to a place.
Animaphany is a collaborative project between Kjersti Sundland, and sound designer and producer Martin Mikkelsen. Contributing artists in the different episodes are Renate Synnes Handal, Mekdes Weldehanna Shebeta and Ole Christian Ellestad.
Animaphany is supported with sound studio facilities and equipment at the Bergen Center of Electronic Art, and with funds from the Visual Artists’ Remuneration Fund and Arts Council, Norway.