The Apology

At Studio17 in Stavanger, Aleksander Johan Andreassen will be showing a brand new piece continuing his work of combining abstract film with text and sound. The exhibition is based on, and shares its title with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1847 poem «The Apology». In the poem, which at first appears to be an apology for a certain lifestyle, a more thorough read reveals it could be more of a defense of this lifestyle. This friction resonates through Aleksander’s installation. Emerson’s poem constitutes a framework for an audiovisual composition consisting of abstract digital animations based on nature photography, and an accompanying soundwork mainly consisting of manipulated field recordings from the wilderness.

Aleksander Johan Andreassen is an artist and filmmaker. He was born and raised in Bodø, and is currently living in Oslo. His works have been displayed at group exhibitions and film festivals in Norway and abroad. Aleksander mainly works with film and video installations where the exploration of methodical approaches is essential. In his work he seeks to give voice to both the discombobulating and vulnerable traits of human conduct. Aleksander got his bachelor’s degree at Bergen Academy of Art and Design in Bergen, Norway and his master’s degree at Konstfack University college in Stockholm, Sweden.

THE APOLOGY

Think me not unkind and rude
That I walk alone in grove and glen;
I go to the god of the wood
To fetch his word to men.

Tax not my sloth that I
Fold my arms beside the brook;
Each cloud that floated in the sky
Writes a letter in my book.

Chide me not, laborious band,
For the idle flowers I brought;
Every aster in my hand
Goes home loaded with a thought.

There was never mystery
But ’tis figured in the flowers;
Was never secret history
But birds tell it in the bowers.

One harvest from thy field
Homeward brought the oxen strong;
A second crop thine acres yield,
Which I gather in a song.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

This exhibition is supported by Rogaland Kunstsenter.