Artists: Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot
Exhibition title: The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead
Venue: Entrée, Bergen, Norway
Date: September 5 – November 10, 2019
Photography: Thor Brødreskift / all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Entrée, Bergen
Artists Anne de Boer and Eloïse Bonneviot have been commissioned by Bergen Assembly to produce a new work, Troll Swamp, which is on display in Entrée alongside individual yet interlinked contributions from the two artists. Anne de Boer and Eloïse Bonneviot collaborate since 2014 as the Mycological Twist, working independently in parallel. The project began as an extension of the garden of Jupiter Woods, a gallery located in South Bermondsey, London, and has since then moved to Athis-Mons, a suburb of Paris, and a balcony in Berlin. the Mycological Twist operates both as a fixed mushroom garden and as a nomadic project, infecting and spreading mycelium alike.
Troll Swamp is a large-scale board game for multiple players, based on the formats and characters from the popular tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons. The game has been developed and tested with various groups in Bergen, and utilises role-play and teamwork in order to act out scenarios against online trolling. Through the analogue nature of the game, a playful situation emerges where one plays an imaginary character. Guided by the Dungeon Master (a storyteller guiding the players through the game), each player will face their own online habits as well as their relationship with others. Troll Swamp has the potential to enable its players to regain confidence, rethink dynamics of interaction and reclaim a different space of expression online.
Anne de Boer’s installation Multi Terra Mining functions both as a host to the works of Eloïse Bonneviot and the Mycological Twist, and as a place for the audience to dwell and contemplate a constantly generating audio and video piece created by the artist. The material is taken from the working group sessions taking place within the installation and in Belgin, overlaid with scenery from the city, creating a stage and backdrop for the other works.
Eloïse Bonneviot’s Feminist Gaming Group is an ongoing project organised as a series of semi-private, multi-player, all-night gaming sessions for people with little knowledge of computer games, specifically addressing individuals who identify as women and non-binary. The installation features ceramic potteries used to provide snacks and drinks during gaming sessions.
Bergen Assembly is an international art event taking place every three years in Bergen. This edition, titled Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, is conceived by a core group of twelve curators, artists, theorists and activists. It encompasses an exhibition across five venues and public spaces in Bergen and a series of events. At the centre of the project is a preoccupation with life – with an understanding of life beyond the binary oppositions of life and death, human and non-human, subject and object, healthy and sick, able and disabled.
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift
Anne de Boer, Eloïse Bonneviot, The Mycological Twist, Part of Bergen Assembly: Actually, the Dead Are Not Dead, 2019, exhibition view, Entrée, Bergen, photo: Thor Brødreskift