Berstad/Holden/Becker

KNØ is a work crew consisting of 6 dancers and 3 large canvas paintings that meet in a collective bodily work. KNØ is based on an idea that people’s ways of existing are primarily maintained by doing activities such as collecting, carrying, keeping, and sharing. We work with an interest in touching, and explore desires and needs that develop through it.

Through simple yet complex interactions we work on interweaving and interdependence between bodies and bodies of work. With backs and knees that withstand different loads, we push and are pushed, fold and get folded, carry and are carried. A soft struggle that points towards working with art and working with care.

The premier took place at The old Munch Museum in Oslo 26th August 2023.

PRESS

“The body which makes art is equal parts a physical lump of bones and spirit. In these twists and turns, Knø is a fascinating performance that puts body, choreography and art into perspective. “ Julie Rongved Amundsen, Scenekunst.no

“KNØ unfolds as an almost didactic study on the relationship between six bodies and three canvases and makes us aware of the joys of labour and the messy meaning of collectivity.” Ilse Ghekiere, Shakespearetidsskrift.no

“The dancers ́ ways of approaching one another is quite gentle as if there is something intimate and precious at stake. I think of the verb «to gather» and how it resembles the word «togehter». These actions, full og effort, are humorously encouraged by the other dancers, something that creates a rupture with the previous part.” Ilse Ghekiere, Shakespearetidsskrift.no

ARTISTIC TEAM

Ingeleiv Berstad is a choreographer and performer who mainly works within the free performing arts field. For the last 10 years, she has been working in an interaction between the theater space and projects that engage in other contexts or landscapes. She explores various forms of collective production and is one of the initiators behind the Bananaz Association for the Performing Arts. She holds an MA in choreography and a BA in contemporary dance from Oslo National Academy of the Arts.

Pernille Holden is a performance – and creative dancer within the free field, based in Oslo. Her artistic practice unfolds through various collaborations where collectivity, musicality, the body’s materiality, and potential are central. Her work materializes in various formats and contexts. She is educated at Spin-Off Forstudium in Dance and the School of Contemporary Dance in Oslo.

Signe Becker is a scenographer and visual artist who works in a broad and interdisciplinary landscape. Her art projects include collective theater and dance productions as well as spatial installations, performances, and sculptures. She holds a bachelor’s degree in scenography from the Academy of Performing Arts in Fredrikstad (2006) and a master’s degree in visual communication from the Oslo Academy of the Arts (2008), and is currently completing her PhD at the Oslo Academy of the Arts with the project “Made Life - Staged objects and staged self».

Stine Janvin is a vocalist, performer and sound artist interested in the flexibility of the voice as an instrument and how it can be shaped and extended by focusing on it’s anatomic features and acoustic potential. Through her projects, created for music theatres, clubs and galleries, Janvin explores the physical aspects of sound, the technical versus the sentimental qualities of the voice, and dualities of the natural/artificial, organic/synthetic, and minimal/dramatic.