"notes on solitude":

> notes on solitude < by Ditte Maria Bangsund-Pedersen

A pocket handkerchief is in itself the bearer of a story. In Danish the word can be split into words for cloth, pocket and wipe; a piece of cloth, carried in a pocket, used to wipe things with. Actually it is a fabulous piece of cloth, collecting different types of juices that have leaked out of a body so to speech, in order to – among other things – convey the message of an emotion. Thus, the handkerchief has been created for the noble task of carrying notes from the body.

Notes
In 1861, when Prince Albert died, Queen Victoria ordered all handkerchiefs at Buckingham Palace embroidered with black and white tears. Such black tears can also be found in > notes on solitude <. Using simple backstitches, Astrid Gjesing has embroidered 107 notes on ladies’ handkerchiefs. She has collected the notes from literature, philosophy, religion and her own texts in her search to pinpoint the essence of solitude. This way > notes on solitude < is an installation, where solitude is channelled through the story-laden handkerchiefs in the shape of fragments from various connections. A kind of gathering of some of the traces that solitude leaves – in various places.

That they are called notes can be interpreted as the artist’s humility towards the subject. Most often a note is not considered a product in itself, but rather a part of a process pointing towards a deeper understanding of something larger – a small securing of a thought or an elaboration on the text. In this sense, the notes can be read as a commentary on solitude being so omnipresent and of so invasive a nature that it is difficult to pin down in a closed circle. And the note-gathering has not finished: In the inner room of the installation itself you can sit at a table and contribute your own notes by embroidering some of the fine old handkerchiefs which will later be added to the exhibition.

The handkerchiefs also have a backside, where the note becomes a sketch. If it is flipped over in a persistent attempt to see how the note was made, you have to face the fact that it is no longer readable. No, notes on solitude are not that easy to decode. That is why Astrid Gjesing’s installation is not a postulate that ventures upon an exhaustive explanation of solitude. It is rather a special space providing the opportunity of experiencing a deeper state pointing towards solitude.

Somewhere just above the floor floats a labyrinthine triangular shape – a small space within the space. The triangle stands ajar, luring the viewer inside. In keeping with the overall installation this small space promotes contemplation. Standing in the middle you are faced by three walls of pinned-together handkerchiefs. One wall consists of old ladies’ handkerchiefs with lace, tatting or crocheted edges. Many hours of work and contemplation have gone into them. Underpinning the connection between solitude and this time-consuming way of creating handkerchiefs, the wall consists solely of these white ladies’ handkerchiefs. Symbolizing both emptiness in itself yet also the passage of time necessary in the creation of such a handkerchief.
On the second wall of the triangle, Astrid Gjesing creates a historical reference to the afore-mentioned Queen Victoria. In the shape of black and white tears – and a few in other colours – the ladies’ handkerchiefs here are marked in a new way that connects them to a time gone by. We are reminded of one of the principal roles of handkerchiefs: to receive tears. Thus, a wall linking the handkerchief to all the emotions it may have been in contact with, every time a tear was wiped away.
The third wall of the triangle stands out, both in regard to colour and time. With its colourful expression, consisting of a collection of used handkerchiefs – ladies’, men’s and children’s – and with printed patterns of various types, the wall creates a contrast to the other white walls. An embarrassment of impressions overlap each other, testimony to the many situations in which handkerchiefs are used. On one handkerchief the word ‘tillykke’ (congratulations) is printed, but given the lack of sender or receiver it becomes an empty expression. The words ALT FORLADT (‘alt’ meaning all or everything, ‘forladt’ meaning forgiven or abandoned) stitched across this colourful patchwork underline among other things the disconnection of the handkerchiefs from their former contexts. Astrid Gjesing will continue to work on this ambiguous statement.

No matter where you go in the installation, the experience is expanded by the sound. The basis for these nine separate electro-acoustical compositions is the artist’s own voice and texts – and a result of a close co-operation with the composer Sisse Schilling. Like the handkerchiefs at the same time isolated and connected, the sound acts as small, individual pillars of sound, sporadically sticking out in the wholeness of the installation. With the language as the common factor the fragmented sound connects with the notes in the handkerchiefs.

The art of gathering
Astrid Gjesing’s way of examining something by gathering notes can be recognized from the French artist Sophie Calle. Significant for Sophie Calle is her experience-based search, where she involves herself in a process to get under the skin of her subject. For example she took a job at a Venice hotel with the intent of photographing the luggage of the absent guests and other traces in the rooms, all the while carefully noting everything about their behaviour. In this sense the notes assist and document Sophie Calle’s detective work and in the end become fragments vital to the whole.
In the same experience-based way, Astrid Gjesing has had conversations about solitude with passers-by in the street. By adding the visitors’ embroideries to the exhibition along the way, she also shows that she has not exhausted the subject. Paradoxically, as an individual you cannot define solitude. All you can do is to note fragments of it when it suddenly arrives.
When solitude strikes it is not easy to ignore. Just like the close-hanging notes: you need to use your body to get through it. Thus Astrid Gjesing’s installation is an interactive, visual and auditive space – embodied by the notes, opened by the interaction and sharp as the labyrinthine triangle. Not least: unpredictable like solitude itself.

by Ditte Maria Bangsund-Pedersen,
stud. MA in Art History and Aesthetics and Culture.