2) måg: The visual and audiovisual aspects of your work often come from nature and situations staged by nature; the drama of the regular seems to take stage for a continued narrative. Please tell us how you approach new work and how you see it in relation to its origins. SB: In several of my works I talk about nature as a mysterious and powerful force, an archetypal force, connecting anthropology and art, transcending the physical perception of objects. In most of my works (Oh, my dark soul! Space 4235, Tromsø, Saturn over Sunset, Black Temporary Space, Bergamo) I explore the condition of transformation over a sort of anthropological ‘pessimism’ which leads toward the unknown: a way to talk about darkness transcending it on a more ancestral level. In one of my sculpture- works I used fish scales as a process of transmutation, fragility; an after death condition. 3) måg: In your practise you explore music as well as visual art. The perception of definition seems unnatural and even non-existent within your work. How do you manage to progress from these definitions which could so easily influence your work? SB: The way I use sound in my work is wide-open and expanded, from live performance to sound installation - electronic
music can achieve complex sonic elements and not only narration.
you deem important to convey about this process through the work itself?
I am certainly far from the more ‘entertainment’ aspect of music and closer to the art form, independent even from the audience. What is really significant to me is the studio work, the self-production of my records and the different visual representations of it, keeping a clear distance from larger forms of production and over- production. I conceive sound and visuals and art as a complex and articulated way to convey concepts and theories.
SB: My imagery is connected with the artistic process whereby anthropology, mysticism and also anthroposophy are combined.
4) måg: You are based in Italy and Norway- what are the biggest differences to how you create work in these two locations? SB: My journey to Norway has been highly significant to me, especially since I explored aspects connected to Northern mythology and experimental music, interconnecting my journey by exploring folklore, like Theodor Kittelsen, who I referred a lot in my work, shooting photos and discovering fascinating details about nature and the self. Autonomy and inner perspective is perhaps the biggest difference I feel when I work in Norway. 5) måg: There is a certain ‘darkness’ to your work, often with an uncomfortable edge to it mixed with romantic sentiments from nature making it somehow eerier and at the same time more familiar. What preoccupies you when you make new work and what do
My interest in exploring different areas of mysticism has found different references in art history: from the experimental film maker Maya Deren to Kenneth Anger, Derek Jarman, Joseph Beuys and Tim Whiten, even Diamanda Galas. In all these sources I found a common approach to the ritualistic aspect: mystery around reality in the cosmic/ alchemic sense; images as pathway to inner vision, magic and shamanism as a key to the world of nature, spirit and self; violence over earth. Myth and ritual speak to the intuition and imagination, not only the self; in sharing and being part of a deeper perception - faculties often compensated by commonness - while the environmental issue is referred to in the deep structures of the intimate archetypical relationship with nature. 6) måg: What is your fixation with ‘myths’ and ‘darkness’? SB: The direct nature connection is related to the exploration of the primal and ancient essence of rituals, where there is no distinction between the ‘natural’ and the ‘supernatural’. The darkness related to it emerges through the commonness of the surroundings; it aims to create