-work in progress-

I will ask the sea about how to harvest the ocean ice, about seasonal work and our relation to food.
In the extract above, small parts from the film material are presented, which all will be interwoven to a visual poem of around 30 minutes.

Oiling of magical stones called "Transteiner / Graksesteiner / Ceavccageađge" has a long tradition in the north. Everything that was caught of fish and sea animals was processed by hand and when the catching season was over, you had to show gratitude for what nature had given.

The first oil boom in Norway came from harvesting the ocean ice. Seal oil gave raise to the cities of Tromsø and Hammerfest, but the desire was too great, it couldn’t last. In our time the population of seals has regained and a boat or two still sets out to maintain this cultural heritage every year. I worked as a trapper on an expedition to the West Ice some years ago, and that’s were this visual poem begins. It was a journey back in time, and I ask myself where are we going from here?

“In this film, the focus shifts from a physical production of materials and man as a tool, to the more symbolic in the meeting between man and nature, not to say man as nature”
-Astrid Fadnes / Se Kunst Magasin

Through a number of selected biotopes, our relation to food and seasonal work is explored. The single images are compositions of landscapes where the human body is framed as a sculpture in performative acts. This story builds further on ideas I presented in "Another man's Floor" which was a film installation created together with Benjamin Breitkopf at Tokyo Photographic Art Museum in 2018.

OLJE STEIN is a film by Trond Ansten in collaboration with Marita Isobel Solberg and will be completed in the fall of 2023