Marit Lindberg

Marit Lindberg

Location and context are important to my works. They have led me to different places around the world, such as city centers, outskirts of cities, and rural areas. I remember something I saw in another city many years ago: a woman alone on her balcony, singing. She was singing to herself, but at the same time she was noticeably aware that she was singing to an audience, those walking by on the street.

This memory became the start of a number of artistic works which include many people engaging in polyphonic works. I often start from an existing environment, and from there proceed by introducing a fictitious moment. The clash of the documentary origin and the added fiction creates a shift in perspectives, and a new situation arises.

I walk around in Lichtenberg. It is December and we are entering the third winter of the world-wide Pandemic. Despite masks and vaccination passes it feels quite normal, but at the same time a bit unreal to be here. The walks become attentive research of the area. I see mothers and children biking in the snow. I meet an old lady who asks me for directions. The restaurant owners are unusually thankful for us eating at their restaurants. We have lived through a long period of restrictions and isolation from other people, but we have probably had more time for reflection and focus than usual. My curiosity about other people and their relation to the area gives me ideas for new works. I can’t gather groups of people, but I am curiously wondering how people live their lives behind the facades. I would like to produce a sound work by using intercom (I can’t find another English word) Gegensprechanlage in German, where people describe their world inside the house to the viewer outside on the street.

January, 2022