Harstad
26.Juni 2022
FILM SCRIPT / MONOLOGUE
EXHIBITION AT THE ARCTIC ARTS FESTIVAL
26.6 - 2.7. 2022
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Let us take you on a journey into the microcosm
Take a breath
Now one more
An extraordinary organism four times thinner than a human strand of hair
Even if you lived your whole life without seeing a diatom, without even hearing the word, you would still live a life which is shaped by it. Down to the oxygen you inhale. This is thanks to their big contribution towards the world’s photosynthesi
Of all the photosynthesis that occurs on earth, ¼ is thanks to the diatoms, putting them on a level with all the rainforests of the earth put together, which means we owe a lot to these microorganisms
They use silica which is eroded from the mountains
To make shells which allow them to reproduce
Their population doubles each day
Silica is the same material glass is made of
And they photosynthesise
Each and every one produces oxygen
take a breath
now one more
think that one of these breaths in its entirety was delivered by the diatoms
The size of dust particles, they buzz restlessly around the ocean
Enlarging them, one observes geometrical and biological architecture
we are bodies of water
we breathe with the tide and the waves are lapping in our bellies
we cry salt tears, and our bodies excrete liquid, in these ways
the water flows on in eternal circulation
the water we exchange
tells a story about
cohesion and interspecies connection
and symbiosis between humans
and other organisms
one day the ocean will come for you
but it has always been with you
it flows in you
you are a world sea of
different microorganisms,
bacteria, virus, fungi and flora
in the body
and one day
your little ocean
will be
a part of the world ocean
the lapping waves in your belly will match
the rhythms of
the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, Indian Ocean,
Pacific Ocean and the Southern Ocean
The spring bloom of the diatoms can be seen from space as organic, turquoise,
green and brown spirals in the sea
Can you see the oil drops in them?
Here they store energy which can be used later, if it should become difficult to find light and nutrition.
These small organisms are so good at making this fatty oil that scientists have been wondering if we can use diatoms as tiny, tiny factories that make sunlight and carbon dioxide into fuel not only for them, but for our future planes
They see water as a symbol of power, something that can be bought and sold, a place of origin for resources
Be careful with the intentions behind using other organisms
If the ocean is opened up for them
Can it be transformed into an empty and lifeless deep?
As people once back in time thought it was down there?
What about creating another relationship to the living planet
We can decide that there are things we do not need
And that some places are special
Important enough to leave alone
The continents dissolve into the ocean, grain after grain of eroded land
The rain that lifted from the ocean will return to the rivers
Sami ways of living, such as coastal fishing and reindeer herding is set aside
of an economy and a system that does not care for the ecosystems it itself is reliable
and those who live within the tolerance limit of nature
Sludge from mining, with large amounts of heavy metal copper will spread and affect life in the fjord
Where cod, saithe, herring, haddock, halibut and flounder swim
We need stories which connect us to the ocean. Some of the stories already exist, some must be retold and some must be created.
Whales live in herds and use sound to communicate
Hvaldimir has never learned to talk in other ways than motor
He has his own motor dialect which no one else responds to other than the boats in the harbor
The past contains all the unclear origins of life
And in the end it receives it all again
Because everything returns to the sea
In a constant current of time
In twenty eight days there is an absolute calmness on the island of the eider duck
After solstice the small ones follow their mother to the sea. One of five ducklings grow up.
Fewer and fewer people live on isles on the outer edges of the North Norwegian Coast.
After the war people were given eviction salary for the society to save energy and water, and in modern times this story continues with streamlining and bureaucracy
Spending weeks by a down feather harp to make a duvet is something few people are willing to do
A diver found a plastic bag in the Mariana Trench, the deepest existing blue hole, the plastic bag had traveled eleven thousand metres down the ocean
«det årnæ se i synjå», she says. It means “it will work itself out at sea.” The saying is illustrating that if you have dragged the whole fishing line in without coiling, so that it lies in one big tangle in the boat, it can help to throw the whole thing in the sea again. And the problem will solve itself, so a variation of “wait and see”
They say we know more about the dark side of the moon, than we know about the depth of the ocean
Jens is ninety years old. He taught me how to tie a fishing net.
We tie threads that connect us to the bottom of the sea.
There is a rhythm to it, and the craft turns into conversation
We tug, and we let go
Up from the yarn comes stories about Lofot fishing, eider duck traditions and fish parasites.
Pressure and darkness are the conditions of the deep sea
On the coastlines of the world is an exceptional chorus of fish, shrimps and algae. Together with a lot of life not yet identified.
When low tide arrives the underwater soul comes forward, and everything becomes so much bigger.
The coastal sea around the city has lost some of its volume.
The ocean gives and the ocean takes, he repeats while we talk about his island in Hysvær
We have not defined the sound of the deep sea yet
But recordings of deep sea pits discloses screams, moans and frequencies
The sources of the sounds not yet identified
We know about the longitude and latitude
But the third dimension introduces the darkness of the ocean
The deafening sound from the Black-legged kittiwake is the first thing that hits you on the way towards a bird mountain
The sound gets lower
The black-legged kittiwake is on its way to New Foundland. Here the sea butterfly is on the main menu
But the sea butterfly gets a thinner and thinner shell as the ocean acidifies, which comes as a shadow of climate changes
This makes the black-legged kittiwake come nearer to you and me
Everytime you zoom out from the diatom, you meet the macrocosmos of the ecosystems connected with it.
Everything intertwined in a chaotic and exact fashion.
Take a breath
Now one more