Gideonsson/Londré (SE)
Residency period: September – November 2021
gideonssonlondre.com
In collaboration with the Centre for chronobiology, they have been exploring the circadian rhythms in relation to orange light that does not act as a Zeitgeber. In orange light, the melatonin production remains at a high concentration level, as if we were in complete darkness. In this context, they performed different tasks in which people were asked to stay awake. They gathered data through conversations and performances with the residents and staff at La Becque. While performing these activities, they collected the participants’ saliva, which contains high levels of melatonin, later to be planted in the garden. Plants are also affected by melatonin and treating them with hormones gives them among other things longer growth cycles and makes them more resilient to stress. They called this project The Melatonin Garden, which will affect the organic life of the garden for a long period of time. All these activities were performed between 3 and 5 am, dubbed the “hour of the wolf” in Swedish folklore, when melatonin production is at its highest and digestion at its lowest, the body temperature going down.
They also researched the history of watchmaking and especially the links between watchmaking and anarchism in the Jura valley, and how watchmaking and geographic location may at the time have influenced ideas brought forward by e.g. Mikhail Bakunin. In this process they visited different clock museums in the Jura, CIRA in Lausanne, and WWW in Saint Imier. Through this research, they gathered material to process for many years to come.
Through long-lasting processes, the artist duo GIDEONSSON/LONDRE search for a dissolved state in-between paralysation and ecstasy. Their practice involves performances, installations and interventions that consist of different forms of highly regulated everyday activities, in relation to different experiences of time. Gideonsson/Londré live and work in Kallrör, Sweden, and received an MFA from The Royal Institute of Art in 2014.