I Taste the Future

Elin Már Øyen Vister

Elin Már Øyen Vister’s Dear Henningsvær and the Ocean that Embraces You! (2017) is an audio walk and sensory tour composed from and within Henningsvær’s landscape. The work spans Már Øyen Vister’s practice of deep listening with their research into local ecologies, ethnographies, labor and infrastructure. Dear Henningsvær and the Ocean that Embraces You! deconstructs the prominent Norwegianization of Lofoten and probes the Sea Sámi’s millennia-long presence and culture being written out of history. The work includes field interviews with relatives of a Sámi fisherman of Henningsvær and moves further out to sea, exploring the ocean as an archive of materials reflective of power, nomadism and the economic structure of the region. The work also emphasizes interconnections among diverse species and ecological resources, calling attention to local plants consumed by animals and inhabitants of Northern Norway. Listening to the sea, sky, birds, buildings, bridges and Henningsvær’s oral and written histories, Már Øyen Vister balances
human and non-human presence, breaking from normative anthropocentric narratives and shifting focus to the insights and stories of the land.

Elin Már Øyen Vister, Dear Henningsvær and the Ocean that Embraces You!, 2017. Audio walk and sensory tour. Kjell Ove Storvik/LIAF