"The Strait Trilogy", exhibition at 3236RLS, London, UK, 2022
A Nordic Noir trilogy and exhibition by Asta Lynge & Matilda Tjäder
30 October - 27 November 2022 at 3236rls / Le Bourgeois, London
The Strait Trilogy includes; “The Strait: A Nordic Noir Pilot” (2020), 23.35 min, “The Strait: The Stone, The Drive, and The Stolen Design” (2022), 29.30 min, “The Strait: Psycho-fertilizer” (2022), 2.30 min
The Strait Trilogy is a Nordic Noir that tells the story of a portal located somewhere in the strait between Denmark and Sweden.
During the warmest summer on record in the region of Oresund, an array of strange events unfold; swimmers and kite surfers from the coastlines of the strait go missing whilst debris of personal belongings wash up on the shorelines. The Lynnetteholm Project – a large-scale expansion scheme of the city of Copenhagen is suspended and the artificial island promised to put an end to the housing crisis is postponed indefinitely. Amid rising tensions and the sudden closure of the Oresund Bridge - “the backbone of the region” - a geological survey is published and conspiracies of a supernatural force somewhere in the strait proliferate. Two independent investigators emerge to navigate the locals’ stories. As they start to trace and map testimonies and forensic evidence, everything seems to point towards a portal that has reopened after centuries of closure.
In the wreckage of the supposedly permanent landscape new doors and theories around the region open up. The more they dig, the deeper the portal becomes - and as they start to join the dots, the darker the plot gets. On their journey through space-time they meet powerful characters from the local cultural canon such as internationally known stars Zlatan Ibrahimović and Arne Jacobsen – as well as other characters lesser known to the public eye. What all of them share is their interface with the portal and the consequences of having interfaced with it. As the plot thickens, they start asking themselves if there’s actually someone controlling the narrative, or even writing and editing it in real time? Are they themselves characters in someone else’s Nordic Noir?
What was it with this place that had inspired myriad writers to journey through its darkness and shadows? Was it the landscape and latitude that invited projections beyond the horizon of the imaginable? The uncanny perfection of the “minimalist” design? Or was it perhaps the heart shaped mirror of the welfare state that at an honest glance fell from its thin nail onto the ground - shattering into pieces so sharp no one would walk away without a wound?
Featuring: Jonas Bergen Rahmanzadeh, Mai Brostrøm, Sunjatha Conta, Samuel Hatchwell, Hans Frederik Jacobsen, Asta Lynge, Claus Lynge, Mood, Farhaan Mumtaz, Anna Paterson, Sara Sjölin, Louis Scherfig, Tora Schultz, Emilia Thorin, Matilda Tjäder, Bertram von Undall
Image: Jakob Ohrt
Costume and character analysis: Sanna Helena Berger
Script, direction, edit and production: Asta Lynge & Matilda Tjäder
Voice-over: Asta Lynge, Matilda Tjäder, Anna Sagström & Ruby Nilsson
Soundtrack: Fivestarrockstar
Fight choreography: Kru Chris Lawrence
Mastering of soundtrack: Niklas Tjäder & Daniel Tjäder
Additional script: Sara Sjölin
Poster: Anna Sagström
With support from: Statens Kunstfond, Nordic Culture Point, Fondet for Dansk-Svensk Samarbejde and Delfi
The artists would like to thank: Kajakhotellet, Morten Holtegaard Nielsen, Azalee, Di Penco, Peter S., Erin Galvin, Bombina Bombast, Dancontainer, Øresund Aquarium, Sebastian/Hittegodskontoret – and to everyone involved.
