Rebecca Birch based in Oslo, Norway makes artworks that explore how we relate to the landscapes that we inhabit, the 'ground' that is the backdrop for our daily lives. Engaging with geology, botany, lichenology, but primarily, people, her works are developed from spending time with people in their local environments. The final works are presented as performance, story telling, audio-visual installations and long-form filmfacefaces. Birch has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally. Her solo exhibitions include; ICA London, the days run away, commissioned by Camden Arts Centre and Whitescreen at The Agency Gallery. Her group exhibitions include, Matts Gallery at Black Rock, Modern Art Oxford, LUX & PeckhamPlex, London. She is the recipient of a number of residencies and awards including, CCA Creative Lab Residency, Glasgow and Lux Associate Artists Programme.
Rebecca Birch, Elg Post 57, 2020.
Watch performance documentation
An episodic performance live-streamed from a moose hunting look out in the forest just above her home in Nittedal, Norway. Combining video, narration and collective waiting, the performance unfolds over the course of three Zoom meetings, hosted at dawn and dusk; the most active time of the day for the moose. Drawing together the analogous techniques for stillness in the landscape practised in Goethean Science and in deer and moose hunting, the work has been developed through research interviews with a Forestry England New Forest Keeper and with moose hunters active around Nittedal.
Episode 1: Stump settles the viewer into the damp ground, discussing the activity of sitting, of stillness, and combining cameras, lenses and viewpoints to explore the immediate vicinity of the moose post, uncovering evidence of animal activity in stunted saplings and mushroom sprouting pellets. We sit together, for 15 minutes, as darkness falls.
Episode 2: Dawn addresses the gaze of the hunter, the way in which one looks, and how one might begin to predict where the moose will move. Extending the boundaries of the image through onscreen drawing, the meeting moves into and beyond the view from the post. A Potential Moose enters the meeting, and follows a path into the camera’s image, uncovering further evidence of activity; a scratched tree stump, and a hoof print. We sit together for 25 minutes, as the dawn breaks.
Episode 3: Quarry looks at the limits of the moose’s habitat, and reveals the wider geographical and geological context of the hillside, exposing further human moose interrelations, including the most brutal encounters. Here in Nittedal, the hunt has begun, and we don’t know if the moose is still out there. We sit and watch for her as dusk settles, for as long as the laptop battery allows.