Testing the Membranous Boundaries is a cross-Atlantic audio visual collaboration that explores the embodiment and translation of peatland knowledge through blending physical engagement with digital interpretations.

As part of their collaboration Bjørnaali, Simmons and Lanzmaier have visited peat bogs in Finland, Estonia, Norway and Canada. Through recordings of the landscapes they find and interpret naturally created monuments like dead, standing trees held in place by the mires, and portals that connect past and present, the bubbles on the surface, and the subterranean world.

Sculptures, sound and photogrammetry based methods of digital gathering, depict sites that form new virtual spaces, seeking a re-mystification and a non-quantifiable approach to peatlands. As a natural part of all technology, glitches, in line with Legacy Russell’s Glitch Feminism, can testify to a possible resistance from a biotope in being reduced to binary codes. The exhibition juxtaposes a generative sound installation, moving image and sculpture into various combinations, offering alternative perspectives of the translated sites.

Part of New Perspectives for Action – a project by Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the European Union. Supported by Arts Council Norway, Canada Council for the Arts, BEK and UKAI Projects.

Photo documentation by Sasha Azanova

The project was invited by BEK - Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts, and exhibited at Lydgalleriet, Bergen.

https://www.lydgalleriet.no/archive/testing-the-membranous-boundaries