North Norwegian Art Centre welcomes you to the exhibition opening of «Arrow and Bow», Saturday, 8 February at 2 pm in Svolvær. The event is open to everyone, and free of charge.

«Arrow and Bow» is about the relationship between man and horse, about being present, and about completing a ten-year-old film project. With the exhibition at the North Norwegian Art Centre, Camilla Figenschou finally completes her first feature film.

When Figenschou, originally from Lofoten, worked on her film Bow and Arrow in 2016, she felt a resistance from the film industry.

- Of course, the film has a «story», but the form and style are at least as important. I would say it is a film that blends fiction with reality, says Figenschou.

- Unfortunately, I never got to make it the way I wanted to almost ten years ago, she continues.

- In the film industry, there are many expectations about what a film ought to contain, such as character development and a clear dramaturgy.

Figenschou, who currently teaches at the Film Art School in Kabelvåg, experienced a general lack of willingness in the industry to experiment and develop the language of film. This made what she felt was a necessary liberation from the medium’s conventions harder. 

- With this project, it was important to develop a completely unique working method that allowed for an investigative, non-judgmental gaze. In a way, the camera becomes the actual main character. It is through its gaze that the camera constitutes an opening, an entrance to what is depicted in the film, continues Figenschou.

The film takes place at an actual centre for equine therapy in Bø, Vesterålen, and mixes real people who are connected to the center with the fictional character Mia, played by Anna Katharina Haukeland. The character Mia arrives at the center periodically to undergo equine-assisted psychotherapy. The situations in the film are inspired by what Figenschou observed over time during the development of the project.

Figenschou's style is linked to a trend in contemporary film known as sensory realism, where sensory experience is its main focus. Instead of psychologically rooted narratives, this approach emphasizes moods and the audience's experiences.

- The film is about being deeply present, but at the same time the film's form and style have a meditative quality, and thus serves a function for the audience'. The film’s surroundings, situations and experiences that are played out addresses the audience through its film language in a way that is quite common within the field of art, but which is not always accepted in feature films.

- With the exhibition at North Norwegian Art Centre, I finally get to complete my project the way I wanted.

A large video installation based on the material from the newly cut version of the film will be shown in the exhibition room at North Norwegian Ar Centre from February 8th.

The director's cut of the film Bow and arrow will have a pre-premiere at Svolvær cinema on 13 March.

- The installation is a video work that stands on its own. It explores the relationship between film and reality to an even greater extent, and the style that I use, concludes Figenschou.

Three large screens fill the exhibition space, in addition to a separate room where scenes from the horse therapy are shown in its entirety.

The exhibition is juried by North Norwegian Art Centre’s exhibition committee: Adriana Alves, Sigrid Høyforsslett Bjørbæk and Marianne Bjørnmyr.

Photo by Øystein Mamen: From the film Bow and arrow.

The exhibition is supported by the Fond for lyd og bile, and has been granted Regional Project Funds for Visual Arts through KiN.