Knots of Ecphore

What does a knot tied hundreds of years ago tell us? In the act of remembering and forgetting, what part does the body play? What does it mean that our bodies are plastic and that we therefore can change our patterns of thought and behavior throughout life? And how do we access the many layers that comprise the mechanisms of memory? These questions – and many more – form the basis for the solo exhibition Knots of Ecphore.

Constellations of works
Kluddermor (Mesh Mother) (2022)
10:42 min HD video loop installation with sound, dimensions variable

Eidolons I-XIIII (2022)
Glas, steel, soil, waxed string with pigment, memories, imaginings

Credits, Kluddermor
Cinematographer: Troels Rasmus Jensen DFF
Gaffer: Philip Sacht
Composer and Musician: Jeppe Brix
Dancers: Alma Toaspern, Hazuki Kajima, Jens Brøndum
Creative Consultant: Nadia Donnerborg
Post Production Coordinator: Bacon Production, Louise Ryge
Producer: The Lab, Emil Eskesen
Digital Post Production: Nordisk Film Shortcut
In-House Post Producer: Maggie Winther Hansen
Colorist: Nordisk Film Shortcut, Olesya Kireeva

Credits, Eidolons I-XIII
Anders Raad Glass: Anders Raad
Holmegaard Glasværk
Glassblowers: Jonas Nöel Niedermann, Iben Kielberg, Peer Nielsen, Pierre Roger Ondongo, Lean Pedersen
Steel: Frank Jensen, Alvilde Holm

Credits, Study
Professor: Head of Department, Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Andreas Roepstorff
Neuroscientist and Teacher of Microphenomenology: Karin Heimann
Writer: Siri Hustvedt
Cultural Anthropologist, Scientist: Joe Dumit
Curator at The Danish National Museum: Anne-Mette Marchen Andersen

Special thanks to choreographer and dancer, Tim Matiakis, Statens Værksteder for Kunst, O–Overgaden, family and friends, everyone who visited the exhibition and tied a knot

The exhibition Knots of Ecphore was supported by:
Arne V. Schlesch's Foundation, Danish Arts Foundation, Beckett-Fonden and Novo Nordisk Foundation

In the video installation Kluddermor (Mesh Mother) three bodies are interwoven in knotty postures, just as in the Scandinavian schoolyard game Kluddermor (which can be translated as messy mother or mesh-mother). The movements are inspired by the khipu, an ancient memory tool consisting of a chain-shaped system of knotted strings used by the Incas. Some scholars believe that these knots worked as a counting system, while others perceive the knots as three-dimensional writing—an accumulation of knowledge and stories. Projected onto a semitransparent screen the video entangles itself with the room and the viewer.

The work Eidolons I-XIII consists of handblown glass-containers, which are placed on a bed of soil. They draw ties with the khipu knot, an ancient Incan memory tool composed of knotted and colored strings. While some view the khipu as a counting device, others regard it as a form of three-dimensional writing – an accumulation of knowledge and stories. The title ‘Eidolons’, meaning phantoms or spirit images, encapsulates the work’s exploration of memory as a portal to all temporalities and perspectives simultaneously.

The knot shape also gives associations and is inspired by the sea slug Aplysia Californica, a tiny mollusk that through neurological studies have contributed to the detection of how human beings register and form memories in our nervous system through external stimuli.

With Eidolons I-XIII, Nymann invites the viewer to physically tie a knot of their own, choosing what they wish to remember thereby contributing to a collective memory and a future Eidolon altogether. Thereby, the exhibition encourages us to think about how we, as individuals remember, but also forget, and what we as a society leave behind for the ones who come after.

The publication "Knots of Ecphore" was published by O–Overgaden on the occasion of the exhibition. A readable version of the publication can be found here.

Read more about the exhibition at O–Overgaden.

Additional reading
Helene Nymann, THE OTHER IS FELT IN THE BODY

Interview with Helene Nymann by Stine Lundberg Hansen in Art Matter, Helene Nymann: "Den viden, der kommer ud af kunst, er reel viden"