førtifem
The «Førtifem» («Forty-Five») installation uses several synchronized slide projectors to depict a train journey from Oslo to Debaltseve, Ukraine, undertaken in 2013. Edited according to the chronology of the route, the work emphasizes the presence of humans within their physical surroundings as seen through the window of the train.
Alongside the main projection, two asynchronous slide projectors present a typology of train station names and text. One shows excerpts from my grandfather's diary, documenting his dramatic journey in the winter of 1945 from Gliwice to a labour camp in Debaltseve, Ukraine. While his journey ended in death, my father and his family travelled the same route in 1978 from Gliwice to West Germany, bound for freedom. Like my grandfather and father before me, I too embarked on this journey at the age of forty-five.
The shifting light of the images and the sound of the projectors emphasize the rhythm of the journey and the motion of the train, creating an authentic experience of movement.
The installation was exhibited at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo during the Høstutstilling 2018 (Autumn Exhibition). Over a period of five weeks, the projectors advanced slides more than 2,300,000 times.
