APPENDIKS 7 / Henriette Heise

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On Saturday the 3rd of April 2004 we presented APPENDIKS 7:

We were pleased to present a collection of nine videos done by visual artist Henriette Heise (Copenhagen) in the period between 1993-2002.

At first sight you might experience the videos of Henriette Heise as a form of registration. The pace is slow and the videos are as long as the actions performed in them. They document an activity, a place or a situation. When you spend more time with the videos you might wonder if it is the story that is the point of interest or more so the idea of looking at the activities taking place. The camera is the gaze, which frames ordinary situations, and the moment they are recorded they become extraordinary. There is something about these activities that seems a bit absurd and the way the videos are recorded makes them almost suspicious. The camera in the first four videos of Henriette Heise is watching people without their knowledge. It is a kind of spy films where surveillance as a phenomenon is investigated. The setting of the video 'operation A vs. operation B' is an area with piles of soil, where two loader tractors drives around and moves the earth. The video is filmed through a pair of binoculars, or something that looks like it. It becomes clear for the viewer when they watch the video that they are also implicated in the act of spying.

There is something contemplative about the videos of Henriette Heise, a condition that might come out of the slowness of the videos. We are looking at everyday life and activities that on the surface seems to be meaningless. In her videos we look at things being moved around, not knowing exactly why it happens. Earth is moved from one area to another. A structure is constructed and taken apart. In the video 'A room of ones own' you see a pair of hands putting paper circles in different colors on a flat surface. The circles are placed side by side partially overlapping, on top of each other in more layers, this goes on until the circles are removed again in the same fashion and the whole seance start over again. The picture in the video is out of focus and the boundaries of the circles are blurred. A space arises that no longer seems to be concrete but with a poetic character, a space that is created almost out of a need.

When one is mesmerized by the videos of Henriette Heise, it might be because they allow for a space where one can construct the narrative. This happens because of the minimal tools Heise uses to build up the structure of the videos, a frame without a specific story.

The videos were screened every day in the opening hours of Appendiks, and it was also possible to consult the videos on your own from a viewing station.

Granddaddy's beard and tea was served!

The presentation was on view from the 3rd of April to the 29th of April 2004.