Tvífalt
Kulturhuset Danckert Krohn, Bergen, 2025
Art Is Dual
Tvífalt initiates a dialogue with the pre-existing and rather dominant street artwork on the neighbouring plot to Kulturhuset Danckert Krohn, where the work is installed. The artist’s ambition is to build a bridge between different aesthetic preferences and interpretations in the public space, while at the same time preserving the work’s authenticity and independent existence. Through habitus, local codes, and the circulation of cultural capital, different regimes of taste are shaped, influencing each individual’s experience of art. The fact that art is experienced in different ways is what makes it “dual.” Through its context, subject matter, materials, and aesthetic expression, the work helps highlight and stimulate this duality in the audience’s frameworks of interpretation.
The term tvífalt means “double” or “duality.” The title of the work is taken from an authentic inscription in the Bryggens Museum’s collection of medieval rune sticks dating from the 14th century. The artist was inspired by the inscription’s defiance of tusser, trolls, and other supernatural forces that govern one’s fate. Two lines from the inscription can be read in the inscription on the crystal’s pedestal.
The installation lights up at sunset throughout the year and switches off at sunrise.
Dialogue
The installation creates a dialogue with its neighbouring mural made by the Chilean artist M.U.M.
During the unveiling of the installation, the actor and legend Helge Jordal perfromed a dramatic reading of the full inscription from the Bryggen rune-stave, in old Norse and some Latin. There was also “blood magic” involved…
The Rune Inscriptions
The Bergen rune charm is a runic inscription on a piece of wood found among the medieval rune-staves of Bergen. It is noted for its similarities to the Eddaic poem Skírnismál (particularly stanza 36);[1] as a rare example of a poetic rune-stave inscription; and of runes being used in love magic.
Wikipedia
Parts of the runic insciption can be found carved in to the pedestal of the installation. “…tvífalt við tröllum, þrífalt við þursum…”
The crystal
The 600kg crystal was originally harvested from a gold mine in Brazil. And exported to the US. A crystal this size takes tousands of years to grow.
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When I discovered it, it had moved to Los Angeles, where I picked it up and sent it to Norway.
Preparing the final installation
Arriving mid winter in Bergen I started the preperations. I dialogue with local geologist Marcel Naumann I carefully drilled a whole for the light source and mounted everything to be secure.
The crystal was firmly mounted and surrounded by local bulder rocks.
Tvífalt was nominated for the Norwegian Lighting Prize in the category for Best Technical Solution/Product
My customly made light source was designed to dristribute light and heat out of the enclosed chamber inside the rock.