Diorama is a public art work by Ingri Fiksdal created with Lasse Marhaug and Jenny Hval, that moves ritual outdoors to reframe urban and rural panoramas through choreography. In Chicago, the performers in sequined costumes by Fredrik Floen and the setting of Cloud Gate produce an artificialness or dioramic aspect that alters the ordinary view in ways determined by the conditions of the specific location. Diorama is underpinned by Fiksdal’s artistic concern with cognition and affectivity and the production of meaning. It premiered September 2017 by the sea in the fishing village Brixham in Torbay, England as part the The Tale, a guided arts trail through hidden coves and historic preserves inspired by the ideas of writer and filmmaker Philip Hoare. STATE and Diorama are designed to be experienced within seven days. The combination of these works aims for a new choreography as social experience—one that builds desire for new structures and in turn shapes social life.

Ingri Fiksdal (b. 1982) works as a choreographer and is currently a Research Fellow at the Norwegian Artistic Research Program. Her work deals with perception and affect, and places equal emphasis on sound, light, choreography, costume and set-design within a performance. The audience is always integral to the performances, which aim to create the potential for immersion to occur. An on-going theme within Fiksdal’s work is the ritual and its inherent capacity of transforming and ultimately transcending its partakers. Within this, the relation between cognition and affectivity, and how they operate in perception and production of meaning, is central. Her most recent productions STATE (2016), Shadows of Tomorrow (2016), Cosmic Body (2015), HOODS (2014), BAND (2013), Night Tripper (2012) and The Orchard Ballads (2011) have toured to a number of venues in Norway, Europe, the US and China. Several of the productions are made with performer Pernille Holden, scenographer Signe Becker and composer Ingvild Langgård. Night Tripper won the Oslo Award for Best Performance in 2012, and HOODS won the Dance Critic Award for best performance in 2014. Cosmic Body (Signe Becker, Mia Melinder and Tilo Hahn) was nominated to Heddaprisen 2016 (Norwegian National Theatre Award) for Best scenography and costume. Ingri Fiksdal is supported by apap – Performing Europe 2020, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. Ingri Fiksdal receives base funding from the Norwegian Arts Council. (www.ingrifiksdal.com)

Jenny Hval (b. 1980) is a songwriter-performer whose prolific work in art-pop and gothic metal deals with gender and sexuality. Her debut album Cigars in 2006 was nominated for a Spellemannprisen, the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy Awards. She has twice topped the international journal VG’s album charts with Viscera (2011) and Innocence is Kinky (2013), which she recorded with PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish. She has toured with St. Vincent and collaborated with Håvard Volden as Nude on Sand for the eponymous album (2012), and with Susanna Wallumrød for her album Meshes of Voice (2014). Hval’s published novels include Perlebryggeriet (Pearl Brewery, 2009) and she approaches writing for music as establishing the specific “connection in lyrics between the mouth and the sexual organ.” Her concept album Blood Bitch (Sacred Bones), created in collaboration with Lasse Marhaug, was named among “50 Best Albums of 2016” by Pitchfork and The Guardian. She has toured the project as Female Vampire to major festivals including Primavera Sound Festival Barcelona. Female Vampire tour clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NucAG1n3-mo

Lasse Marhaug (b. 1974) has since the early 1990s been one of the most active artists in the international noise/experimental music scene. As a performer and composer, he has contributed to more than 300 releases, as well as extensive touring and performing on all continents of the world. In addition to his solo work, Marhaug has a long history of fruitful collaboration in the fields of noise, experimental, improv, jazz, rock and extreme metal, and contributes music and has contributed sound and scores for theatre, dance, installations, film and video. He is active as a curator, producer and visual artist. Marhaug was born and lives in Bodø, a city above the arctic circle in Norway.