The Ocean Is Not Unfaithful II

All of us, we’re here with you now by day. But at night, we’re somewhere else. Then we’re back home again, all of us. Then we’re back in the war. Every single night. You can’t understand that. Having experienced fear—proper, real fear—that makes me different from you. I have survived, I’m living life number two now. I can never come here with all of myself, I always hang back a little. But my children are here at night too. They are only here. That’s worth the whole journey and all the rest. They’ve come all the way. And there’s peace here. That’s all that counts. 
–Man, Eritrea. Oslo, September 2016

The Ocean is Not Unfaithful II is a performance by Marianne Heier about what it is like to travel without a return ticket. The performance is based on quotes from acclaimed literature mixed with extracts of conversations with people migrating to and from Norway. The script moves seamlessly between these diverse text fragments, challenging a simplified public and political discourse about migration based on polarised notions of us and them, centre and periphery, success and failure, asset and problem.

Two characters meet on a beach after crossing the ocean, while a seagull observes from above. The dialogue highlights contrasting positions, one is thoughtful with a deep intellectual and sensual connection to the roots, while the other, ready to leave the past behind, represents ambition, speed and direction. The piece explores the tensions between these two temperaments in a play of equilibrium and conflicts. It questions the very idea of integration, showing how a policy intended to integrate newcomers in society instead ends up producing polarised positions.

Performed across two nights at Bergen Kunsthall, and built around her family’s own history of migration, Heier’s work speaks of the Great Travel as both a concrete movement and a metaphor for life in general. While the concept of a nation state, and the regulations it brings with it, is relatively new, people have always moved for many different reasons. Not only in desperation but also to search for opportunities and skills, or to be with their loved ones. We are all traveling; this applies to all of us.

Friday, March 23 at 7pm & Saturday, March 24 at 2pm

Performers:
Marianne Heier
Irma Heier Vaglieri
Marco Vaglieri

Dancers:
Amanda Bach
Ida Frømyr Borgen
Maaike Croles Fitjar
Hanne Frostad Håkonsen

Music: Erlend Hogstad
Light: Tobias Leira
Photo: Kristine Jakobsen
Curator: Elisabeth Byre

Marianne Heier (b. 1969) lives and works in Oslo, Norway. Her recent solo exhibitions and projects include This Is What Creates The Seasons and The Passing of The Year, a.titolo/ Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy (2017); O, Stavanger Art Museum, Norway (2017); Sun, Kube Art Museum, Åleseund, Norway (2017); A Trilogy/ Marianne Heier, Alberto Peola, Turin, Italy (2016); Orpheus, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo (2013). She has participated in group exhibitions at a number of institutions such as the CAPC Contemporary Art Museum Bordeaux, France (2017); The 3rd Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art, Ekaterinburg, Russia (2015); Henie Onstad Art Centre, Høvikodden, Norway (2015); the National Museum for Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, Norway (2014); Malmö Art Museum, Malmö, Sweden (2013).

In 2012 she was the Festival Artist in Bergen Kunsthall, and in 2013 she was recipient of the Lorck Schive Art Prize.

The project is supported by Arts Council Norway.