LIVRE D’IMAGES SANS IMAGES by Mette Edvardsen & Iben Edvardsen borrows its title from a book by H.C. Andersen, also known to as The Moon Chronicler. This book unfolds a dialogue between a painter and the Moon, where the Moon, on her nightly voyage across the globe, recounts her visions to the painter, urging the painter to paint her words. LIVRE D’IMAGES SANS IMAGES began with an ancient idea of conversation, not just as exchange, but as a dwelling place for thoughts. Using the weather report as dramaturgy, a play of presence and absence, where “the moon did not show up every evening, sometimes a cloud came in between”, these nightly exchanges formed a mosaic of elements: recorded conversations, text, voices, drawings, references, found images, loose connections, inspirations and imaginations, all in the sequence they appeared. These pieces act as both wellsprings and remnants, foundations and supports for new dreams and occurrences yet to be realized.
The work unfolds through three forms: vinyl, paper, and live performance.
Mette Edvardsen’s work is rooted in the performing arts, where she is both a choreographer and performer. While she often delves into other media like video, books, and writing, her main focus remains their connection to the performing arts as both a practice and a situational context. Since 1994, she has worked as a dancer and performer for various companies and projects, and she began developing her own work in 2002. Edvardsen presents her creations internationally and continues to collaborate with other artists in different capacities.
A retrospective of her work has been presented at Black Box Theatre in Oslo in 2015, and in 2018, her work was shown in the Idiorritmias program at MACBA in Barcelona. Her ongoing project, Time has fallen asleep in the afternoon sunshine, started in 2010 and has been presented at Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels (2013 and 2017), the Sydney Biennale (2016), Index Foundation in Stockholm (2019), Oslo biennale First Edition (2019-2020), Trust & Confusion at Tai Kwun Arts in Hong Kong (2021), the São Paulo Biennale (2021) and at Moving in November (2022).
Edvardsen is structurally supported by Norsk Kulturråd (2022 – 2026). She is finalizing her research as a PhD candidate at Oslo National Academy of the Arts.