SMØR Press

"A wet trace draws a new coast (Curtain VI)" is an investigation of the harbor area and the Brattøra district in Trondheim, following an invitation to create a site-sensitive work for Rake visningsrom (2011 - 2019)’ final exhibition. The work consists of two parts. Part one is a compressed play in 12 parts. Here we meet Vekteren/the Watchman as the protagonist, alternating between present and

past times.

In ancient times, Øretinget was held at Brattøra, and it was here that the old watchmen were based in Trondheim. From Brattøra, the watchmen wandered in and through the town at set times to report to the towns population on weather conditions, time of day and any dangers to people and livestock. In older times, the watchman had a clear general role in the townscape, as a protector and caretaker of the population, while in our time we use the term watchman to describe a role that mainly safeguards economic considerations and private property. Highlighting this contradiction in a poetic way has been one of the driving forces behind Larssen’s project, which also attempts to provide an experiential reminder of time and transience by using the passing from day to night as an image of constant and ongoing change. In short, condensed tableaux, in which the sea also plays a significant role, the reader finds herself in a harbor area that is inspired by Brattøra, but which can give associations to harbor areas anywhere. The work moves through 12 hours of a day, from sunset to new day. The text borrows short excerpts from actual Watchmens´ songs from the 16th and 17th centuries found in the state archives. This creates a rhythmic alternation between our own time, and a memory of a bygone past. Part two of this work is a series of wood sculptures that allude to a falling stage curtain in 12 stages, then lit in a professional theater hall according to the movement of the sun in the sky, and then photographed.