Fluorescent You
Installation with projection screens, LED PAR lights and stands, grass, wooden deck, headphones, chairs, sound, monochromatic light, 18 min. (loop)
In the Greenery, Inter Arts Center, Malmö, Sweden, 2016.

The plants direct their leaves towards the light. The light particles travel through the organism, and are absorbed into its very chemistry. Less than 400 000 generations are needed to transform a light sensitive, pigmented spot on the skin into an eye. Photosynthesis and photography – man produces images as the plants produce sugar.

"Fluorescent You" can be described as a 18 minute film without photographic imagery. Instead the visitor is exposed to monochromatic light that slowly shifts from one color to another, which causes intense visual effects. A narration unfolds that revolves around light and image making; memory and meaning; attempts to capture words and to control images. Four characters stand out as key figures, for whom the relationship between the concrete world and its representations has been turned upside-down. Neither language nor sight can be taken for granted anymore.

The installation was shown as part of the solo exhibition "In the Greenery", Inter Arts Center, 8-29 April, 2016, and is part of Janna Holmstedt’s research project Are You Ready for a Wet Live-In? Explorations into Listening at Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå University, and Malmö Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, Lund University, in the framework of Konstnärliga forskarskolan, Sweden.

Language: English
Voices: Orenda Fink, Janna Holmstedt, Jo Rideout, Matt Wycoff
Sound mix and sound technician: Marcus Pal
Technicians: Anders Smolka, Marcus Råberg
Programming: Marcus Pal, Jörgen Dahlqvist
The exhibition was produced in collaboration with Teatr Weimar and Wlabs, and is supported by the Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå University; Konstnärliga forskarskolan; Teatr Weimar and Inter Arts Center.
Photo: Mikael Lindahl