{"id":17084,"date":"2020-09-08T20:21:17","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T19:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonnierskonsthall.se\/?post_type=bonnier_exhibition&p=17084"},"modified":"2026-03-07T17:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T16:09:12","slug":"bethan-huws","status":"publish","type":"bonnier_exhibition","link":"https:\/\/bonnierskonsthall.se\/en\/utstallning\/the-world-is-gone-i-must-carry-you\/bethan-huws\/","title":{"rendered":"Bethan Huws"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/span>\"Bethan
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Bethan Huws<\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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BETHAN HUWS, b. 1961
\nWelsh, based in Berlin, Germany<\/p>\n

Singing for the Sea<\/em> documents a vocal performance organized in 1993 by Bethan Huws on the coast of the North Sea in England. Eight Bulgarian women \u2013 known as the Bistrista Babi or Bistrista Grandmothers \u2013 are seen singing and dancing in their traditional costumes at the water\u2019s edge at high tide. The film juxtaposes sequences of this live \u201cconcert for the sea\u201d with close-ups of the empty beach in the ebbing tide.<\/p>\n

Presented outside their cultural contexts, the women\u2019s voices become glossolalic, pure sounds that echo the sea\u2019s structureless form and its deep noise. The seascape is therefore more than decor; it is an integral part of the experience, composing with the women a profound and dynamic surface at the limit of abstraction. <\/p>\n

This meditation on the poetics of voice has also a political and social significance for the Welsh artist. It is a critical reflection on the British sentiment of insularity and politics of monolingualism. Here the presence of the European women and their polyphonic voices makes visible the presence of European neighbours beyond the water, including the existence of the Welsh community within the British territory.<\/p>\n

Image: Bethan Huws, Singing for the Sea<\/em>, 1993. Still.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Utst\u00e4llning<\/p>\n\n\n\n