Golden Days

January 20, 2013January 20, 2013 Thomas Büsch

Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary in cooperation with Universidad Nacional presents the world-premiere of Golden Days (Remedios, Colombia, 2012) by the Swedish artists Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Thomas Nordanstad commissioned by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary.

Golden Days (Remedios, Colombia 2012) focuses on the area around Remedios, a town in the Antioquia department of Colombia, where gold mining has been the prevalent industry and the main source of income for centuries. The footage juxtaposes the domestic with the mining milieus, the daily social landscape and activities and the underground excavation world, and captures the essence of this “golden” place: “As above, so below” as the ancient alchemists used to say. The movement of images and music in the film is carefully paced as both an internal and an external meditation, weaving together an atmosphere as the viewer is taken on a journey through the life and environment of Remedios.

Composed by the artists, the sound track uses a variety of sound elements—such as EVP (electronic voice phenomena), capturing the “voices of the dead”—and generates sounds based upon emission spectroscopy, a technique that enables the listener to actually hear the physical matter from the mines, such as metal ore.

Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Thomas Nordanstad have collaborated on a number of projects over more than a decade, developing a signature method that involves slowing the pace of the documentary form into a contemplative “still life” structure, lingering on images of domestic architecture and its surroundings. Golden Days (Remedios, Colombia 2012) is their fourth film.