The Song of the Crystal Dragon

Did you know that Munch was a vegetarian and that he did not kill animals, not even ants who invaded the cotage at Åsgårdstrand? He was known and loved, out there by the sea. His pictures could be found in bushes or set against trees, and everyone in the small village had received an art gift from him – whether they wanted to or not. When his art became expensive and adorable collectibles, this became a problem for the village population. The insurance companies demanded crazy sums to insure a Munch in private homes, and Åsgårdstrand with its open doors and sleepy day rhythm could not afford to keep the art treasures they had received.

When we arrived at Munch’s main studio at Ekely, we felt a heaviness like a clammy hand around the heart. We preferred sitting in the cool spring air, none of the TWAPS members would go into the studio. Really strange to build a large room without a window, and the windows that exist are high up. It might be done because of fear of insight, a need to protect the art. The arist group TWAPS creates relational art, and we were surprised when we began to search inward, not outward, in the meetng with Munch’s studio. This is why we asked a shaman to clean the room energetically. The shaman choosed not only to clean the studio, but also us artists in TWAPS. She whispered whether we would accept the heart of the crystal dragon while touching our heart, one by one.

The room turned brighter. It opened and invited us in. It was just right for us to get involved in Edvard Munch, because it was him who invited us in the first place. We filmed the shaman session, picked up the sound of this as well as the sound of the empty room, and the sound of the garden. We filmed the garden and started growing vegetables, originally upside down, but concluded that mirrors gave us the same impression. In addition, we were able to bring down the skylight ceiling and include the room’s architecture in the installation.

We found the bent branch on the right site of Kikutkollen, and the crystals had been a gift by the family that once restored Grand Hotel’s finest chandelier.
We have previously pointed to Joseph Beuys whose works and life have inspired TWAPS. This installation goes even further in that it also receives help from a shaman in the work process and in the auditory expression. Here, the shaman acts as a catalyst, who facilitates artistic work and acts ultimately as a mediator between the material and the intangible. Two out of three artists had not been participating in shamanistic practice before and were deeply moved by this process.

Shaman Merethe Kvernrød has well approved the use of the recordings. Radwan Zanhar has given us technical support.

Thank you to:

Edvard Munchs Atelier Stiftelse, Oslo, one month artist in residency, May 2023

Light & Living for donation of the crystals