The fantasy of being captured by the mountain is repeated in history for various purposes. It has been used to explain mental disorders, or to describe the suggestion in an art experience. The mountain constantly attracts people, up on it and into it. It is on the mountain that we meet the oracle, it is in the mountains that we are held captive by the mountain king and it is up the mountain that Sisyphus rolls his lucky stone.
The idea for Bergfiktioner (“Fictions of mountains”) has emerged in Runsten's previous work with landscape dramaturgy and the mountain as a nature-romantic symbol. From the nature-romantic idea of the sublime, through the mountain films of the 1930s and the contemporary desire to hike, a number of vocations return: romanticize, climb, overcome and recover. Based on the mountain as a place and symbol, Runsten will study the mountain's mysterious, historical and contemporary meanings.
Olof Runsten works with text and space in collaboration with artists from the performing arts field and other art fields. His work often began with a relation to different places. He has previously made the performances The End of Books and Råttmånaden. This is the first time Runsten visits Black Box teater.
NB! The performance contains flashing strobe lights
