FORT
Point Gray

Oct 11th – 17th, 2008
Sequences Real Time Art Festival Reykjavik

Copyright FORT
Copyright FORT
Copyright FORT; Photo Högni Ragnarson
Copyright FORT; Photo Högni Ragnarson
Copyright FORT; Photo Högni Ragnarson

In October 2008, the Bremer Kunst Satellit 2008 embarked, in the form of a container, upon a mysterious journey across the sea to Iceland. The POINT GRAY container found its provisional, nomadic home directly on the shores of the North Atlantic, along the coast of Reykjavik, where the industrial extensions of the harbor become interwoven with the periphery of the city. For three nights, it metamorphosed one of the most seductive and captivating sites of the icelandic metropolis. In the chill of the icelandic night, the container opened its doors at 10:00 p.m. in order to serve the public as a place of refuge. In a tiny booth in front of the container, an exchange sign invited us to switch currencies. Right in the middle of the financial crisis which was convulsing the country, we converted icelandic crowns into a new currency, the One Eye from FORT. This allowed the purchase of a glass of red wine, the GOLDEN GRAY Bordeaux which was served to us by a barkeeper whose blindness we only perceived after a while. The crowd of visitors in the bar spread throughout the interior of the container which radiated an atmosphere that was vibrating along the fringes of curious expectation. In the emblematic realm of this unique site, time seemed to stand still. The crowd of visitors continued to wait with non-dwindling attentiveness, to wonder what was actually going to happen here. Then the atmosphere became more densely energized. Something seemed about to occur. In a ceaseless loop, the same musical sounds return again and again. Like an acoustic countdown, the mood seems to grow more charged with expectation. Will it go on like this forever? No - for with an adroit movement, the barkeeper all at once draws aside the cloth drapery behind him and opens up the view onto a stage. There they are: FORT. The female artists. In daring clothing - from another era, from another world - they dominate the stage. And mirrored in the background is the bar, which is a different one. What is real here? This is the question resonating throughout the evening that now begins. With a siren song in which the ancient sagas of Iceland reverberate and the mysteries of our own era are revealed. Then in a dance which at some point comes to an end, but will continue throughout the night. POINT GRAY unfolds its magic - upon the northerly shores of a vast ocean, yet right at the heart of our world, in Reykjavik.

Carsten Ahrens

About FORT

FORT consists of Alberta Niemann and Jenny Kropp. Since 2008 they create installations, performances and video installations (until 2013 with Anna Jandt).

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