ANE METTE RUGE
[ indistinct chatter ]
Video work, 2024-2025

The cast / de medvirkende


Generative/analogue animation and colourfields of light, projected onto coloured felt boards.
2,40cm x 4,88cm/variable. Mute. Transitional within the spectrum from daylight to darkness.
The generated and animated protagonists are derived from an archive of photographic material, consisting of three years of the Danish popular weekly magazine Billedbladet (The Image Magazine) from the pre-worldwar II years, 1938-1940.
The archival printed material constitutes a reservoir of motives, making up a rich source of protagonists, narratives, texts and textures.
The portraits are animated and controlled by means of my own face, in a long-term proces, in which the 10 protagonists have been 'trained' to express certain emotions, and to interact mutually, as well as with the spectator.
Formally the installation intimately corresponds to the dynamics of gradations of light throughout the day. In full daylight the solid background of coloured boards have a life of their own, with just a slightly visible projection, corresponding to a flicker of light through leaves.
During the subtle transition from daylight over dusk to darkness, the background imperceptibly morphs with the projected moving images, which gain definition, contrast and saturation as darkness takes over.
Likewise the perception of the work transforms from an architecturally integrated work of colour, into a dark and atmospheric narrative of silently subdued and ambiguous drama.
Kunsthal Den Frie - Copenhagen. Decembristerne 2025.
Supported by The National Danish Arts Council 2024
VIDEO DOCUMENTATION:
In the course of a day the work takes on a variety of physical and visual identities, as the natural light transitions into darkness.




Installation view: at twilight. Projected image gains saturation
Installation view: at daylight, softly lit colour composition on felt boards.. Projection emerges softly.
Installation view, at dusk, Projection emerges as daylight fades.







Installation view: at night. Projection is fully saturated.