All images: Eivind Lauritzen/Galleri F 15
Siri Hermansen
I will see you when the sun rise
2022
I will see you when the sun rise is an artistic manifesto for the public space. The project consists of 20 black flags, each with a white printed statement referring to survival strategies in times of tyranny and injustice. The content is appropriated from Historian Timothy Snyder’s publication On Tyranny, twenty lessons from the 20th Century, where advice on how to survive under tyranny is presented in twenty chapters. Beginning with I will, the statements are presented as personalized promises and commitments to the self and the society at large and questions how to protect life, society and democratic foundations.
Playing actively with the relationship between the I as a messenger and I as a receiver, the spectator embodies the content of the I will, and is invited to take an intellectual and emotional position through its contents.
Miming an authoritarian aesthetic, the flag project seeks to politicize the public sphere through a personal covenant that is political yet poetic, and sometimes utopian at its best and worst.
I will not obey in advance.
I will defend institutions.
I will beware the one-party State.
I will Take responsibility for the face of the world.
I will Remember Professional Ethics.
I will Be wary of Paramilitaries.
I will Be reflective If I must be Armed.
I Will Stand out.
I will Be kind to our language.
I will Believe in Truth.
I will Investigate.
I will make Eye contact And Small talk.
I will Practice Corporal Politics.
I will Establish A private Life.
I will contribute to good causes.
I will learn from pears in other countries.
I will listen for dangerous words.
I will be calm when the unthinkable arrives.
I will Be a Patriot.
I will be as courageous as I can.
Playing actively with the relationship between the I as a messenger and I as a receiver, the spectator embodies the content of the I will, and is invited to take an intellectual and emotional position through its contents.
Miming an authoritarian aesthetic, the flag project seeks to politicize the public sphere through a personal covenant that is political yet poetic, and sometimes utopian at its best and worst.
I will not obey in advance.
I will defend institutions.
I will beware the one-party State.
I will Take responsibility for the face of the world.
I will Remember Professional Ethics.
I will Be wary of Paramilitaries.
I will Be reflective If I must be Armed.
I Will Stand out.
I will Be kind to our language.
I will Believe in Truth.
I will Investigate.
I will make Eye contact And Small talk.
I will Practice Corporal Politics.
I will Establish A private Life.
I will contribute to good causes.
I will learn from pears in other countries.
I will listen for dangerous words.
I will be calm when the unthinkable arrives.
I will Be a Patriot.
I will be as courageous as I can.
Through film, photography and installations, Siri Hermansen investigates unforeseen affects in societies that are undergoing deep economic, environmental, and political change.
The projects offer unusual micro-perspectives on contemporary modes of adoption and strategies of survival in societies that can be considered as uncertain zones.
Hermansen has exhibited extensively internationally and nationally. Since 2021 she has been employed as Professor and Head of the Master program Art and Public Space at the National Academy of the arts in Oslo.
www.sirihermansen.com
@sirihermansen
The projects offer unusual micro-perspectives on contemporary modes of adoption and strategies of survival in societies that can be considered as uncertain zones.
Hermansen has exhibited extensively internationally and nationally. Since 2021 she has been employed as Professor and Head of the Master program Art and Public Space at the National Academy of the arts in Oslo.
www.sirihermansen.com
@sirihermansen
