Rune Peitersen – www.runepeitersen.com

VOIDS is an ongoing series of photos in which a series of scenes are depicted. Some are based on well known paintings others are night time photos of otherwise busy places. What they all have in common is that they suggest the taking place of an action, but that the active element is gone. In the Ophelia photos, Ophelia is nowhere to be seen, only the dark water with a few scattered flowers – is she below or has her body already been recovered? When does an image link or attach itself to a wellknown narrative – how many ‘hints’ does it take?

In Nightmare the composition of the painting of Fuseli is reproduced in an everyday contemporary setting. Once more the person with which we identify in the original painting (or who is the focal point for our attention/empathy), is gone. The bed suggests a sudden exit, as if someone was sleeping but awoke and rushed away. Did the lady from the painting wake up and turn on the light? Are we ‘after’ the original painting in terms of the narrative?

Some of the photos don’t deal specifically with a narrative or painting, but simply depict scenes which are void of people. These are also studies in night photography.

Nightmare - after Fuseli

Ophelia02 - after Redon

Ophelia03 - after Millais

Parking

Elaine01 - after Atkinson Grimshaw

Playground

The photos made for this presentation can be seen here: Camouflage

Kloone4000, http://www.kloone.anjeroosjen.com

Project description for Kloone4000, Rune Peitersen

I will place an amorphous object covered in camouflage fabric in ordinary cityscapes. I will observe the people passing by and document it with video and photos. I will use the Retort project space as ‘base’ for this project, and from there find suitable locations in the area. When not shooting, I and the object will be present at the Kloone4000 project space.

In the photo works I wish to create a situation in which the viewer is confronted with the presence of a foreign, ominous object in a typical urban scene. The object should engage the viewer in actively trying to envision the contents or purpose of the object. The camouflage cover suggests the idea of something which is purposefully trying to hide or has been hidden, but can also secretly observe that which it hides from. The scale and shape suggest an organic content, and also refers to images of body bags and other containers used to conceal, carry or store (organic) material. Its military connotations makes it out-of-place in the city and adds a level of tension – is it part of a covert operation or an experiment gone wrong?

This project is in many ways a continuation of my previous series of photos, ‘Urban Scenes’, but instead of the digital insertion of a foreign mass into a scene, the insertion this time is real.

The PS1 radio station. Especially the BioBlurp show is of interest to this project. http://www.wps1.org/

Musings over ‘the clone’:

Why would I fear myself?

A clone, in the popular view, is an exact replica of oneself. Therefore the fear of cloning seems to ultimately be a fear of oneself. Not merely a fear of Frankenstein’s creation, the Golem or even a Doppelganger, but fear of myself, the fear of a replica of who and what I am.

If a perfect replica, my clone should act and react as I do in any given situation. But what if it didn’t? What if it did things differently than I would? Better, perhaps? More daring, bolder? What if my clone did all the things I secretly yearn to do, but don’t dare? What if my clone became Dorian Gray and I became the portrait, sitting at home in the dark, disfigured by fear and jealousy?

My clone is a product of my biology, not my environment. Like Eve, it is created from a piece of me, and like Eve it hasn’t had my social upbringing. And like Eve, perhaps it too will go straight for the tree of knowledge, leaving me cowering and mumbling about prohibitions and moral restrictions. Will my clone disallow me to eat from the tree of life? Will it show me my biological self, show me I’m flesh and bones and blood, and must die?

Would it remind me to hurry? Would it remind me there are plenty of things I haven’t experienced yet? Would it tell me to stop worrying and like a Viking berserker do away with fear of death and injury, illness and taxes? Would I be afraid to revel in the sensations of the flesh – and why? Would I try to tell it it was wrong? What if I tried to stop it? What if I pronounced it my white whale and so doing brought the mark of Cain upon myself? Could I destroy my clone without destroying myself?

What if I stop being afraid? What if I go to the mirror and greet my clone, look him straight into the eyes? What if I don’t flinch, but meet his gaze with a stern, determined look of my own; if I tell him that from now on we’re in this together, and extend my unshaking hand to him?

Would he accept it?

a few simple sketches

Parts of the brain are temporarily “switched off” when we blink, scientists have found:
Blink and you really do ‘miss it’

Today’s (26/7/05) cloning news:

Cautious revolutionary

Cloning plan poses new ethical dilemma

A few animation works I made while working at the Centre for High-Performance Computing & Visualisation, Groningen in 2001.

click images for video.

The link to C-Theory Net:
“CTHEORY is an international peer-reviewed journal of theory, technology, and culture,
publishing articles, interviews, event-scenes and reviews of key books.”
http://www.ctheory.net/home.aspx