Lena Måndotter at Malmö Konsthall, in the performance Black Sun (Svart Sol)
Besides working as a singer, Lena Måndotter has also created a series of experimental performances together with her co-musicians and most of these performances and installations had their premier at Malmö Konsthall in south of Sweden Below are some short texts about these performances and we are now working on adding photographies and film-clips.
WHERE ALL ANGELS HAVE FALLEN (1992)
A performance about a journey in the transhimalayas in Tibet, a circumambulation
around the mountain Kailash.
Text/Music/Song/Photography: Lena Måndotter, Percussion: Bert Mellblom, Photo:
Christer Strömholm
SKELETON WOMAN (1993)
A performance at Malmö Konsthall inspired by the Inuit myth about the
skeleton woman, a resurrection of the feminine against the old patriarcal
law.
Text/Music/Song/Photography: Lena Måndotter, Celtic Bodhran/song: Ronnie
Hall, Percussion: Bert Mellblom, Jerker Hejkenskjöld and Thomas Rodrick.
Base: Simon Bloomfield. Scenography/Light: Lena Måndotter and Ronnie
Hall. Masks: Ronnie Hall. Sound: Jojo Kempe
CUT THE BONES (1994)
A performance at Kulturbolaget about a Cassandra-prophecy, a vision of a
future where all modern technology has crashed and humans are living among
the ruins of what once called the earth.
Text/Music/Song/Photography: Lena Måndotter,
Music/Song: Ronnie Hall. Music/Guitar: Synth/Sampler: SImon Bloomfield.
Scenography: Ronnie Hall. Light: Calle Hansson. Sound: Ola Glans
THE NIGHT WAILS (1995)
A performance at Malmö Konsthall inspired by the old Nordic mythology
and the mythology of the ravens of Odin and his runes. All set in a dark
urban sound landscape mixed with ancient shamanic rhythms and songs.
Text/Music/Song/Photography: Lena Måndotter, Music/Song: Ronnie Hall, Music: Simon
Bloomfield. Masks/Scenography: Ronnie Hall. Lights/Sound: Ola Tufvesson.
TOTEM (1996)
a crosscultural performance at Kulturbolaget in Malmö over an extended
period where artists from different fields gathered and created a tribal
event with dance, music, art installations and poetry. Among the contributing
artists were Lena Måndotter (poetry, song), Ronnie Hall (song, scenography),
Jörgen Wernefeldt (music, sound), Finn Albertsson (dj), Gunnel Erlander
(dance), Ola Tufvesson (light/sound), Lina Sporrong (scenography), Anna
Almqvist (photo), Bird (UV-Art) and many more.
SILVER DESERT (1997)
A performance at Malmö Konsthall inspired by a dream about future visions
where the water of the earth is poisoned and darkness rules except where
the magic of the inner child can be found and returned to life. Trolls played
an important role in the search for the pure water of life.
Text/Music/Song/Photography: Lena Måndotter, Music/Song/Scenography/Masks: Ronnie
Hall. Music/Scenographic technologySound: Jörgen Wernefeldt. UV-art:
Bird. Lights: Calle Hansson.
BLACK SUN (2000)
a solo-performance by Lena Måndotter at Malmö Konsthall where
she journeyed through voices of dreams and visions, interpreting songs and
poems by Laurie Anderson, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Adonis, Alf Hambe
and Diamanda Galas. The gospel of Thomas, which is excluded from the Bible,
also served as inspiration.
Song/Poetry/Photography: Lena Måndotter. Lights/Masks/Sculptures/Scenography:
Ronnie Hall. Ceramic: Birgitta Persson. Sound: Jörgen Wernefeldt.
IN THE BEGINNING WAS SOUND (2001)
a non-stop musical journey, at Kulturbolaget, lasting one hour, through
an atmospheric landscape of sounds and percussion and visions of the four
elements fire, air, water and earth. This creation was inspired by Cymatics
- Waveform, the scientific research by dr Hans Jenny about the influence
of sound on matter.
Poetry/Music/Song/Bodhrandrum/Photography: Lena Måndotter.
Music/Sound/Bodhran-drum/Scenography: Ronnie Hall. Music/Video: Jörgen
Wernefeldt. UV-Art: Bird. Lights: Calle Hansson. Sound: Ulli Ruchlinski
TEMENOS (2001)
A sound-installation with sculptural objects at Malmö Konsthall. The
music was later released as a cd on Waveform
Records.
Music/Installation/Photography: Lena Måndotter, Ronnie Hall and Jörgen
Wernefeldt. Temenos is a greek word meaning the innermost sanctuary - a
sacred and protected space.
I AM WHO I AM (2001)
A sound-installation with sculptural objects at Loftet/Hedmanska Gården.
Music/Installation/Photography: Lena Måndotter, Ronnie Hall and Jörgen Wernefeldt.
SINGING THE SOUL BACK HOME (2001)
A solo-performance by Lena Måndotter at Musik i Syd "Stemmer
i 1000 år" - festival of Öresund. The theme of the performance
was the song's ability to hold and heal where words can only fail.
Guitar/harmony
Vocals: Ronnie Hall. Guitar/base: Jörgen Wernefeldt.
WALKING ON WATER (2002)
A performance at Malmö Konsthall inspired by brave acts against all
odds, and in honor of radical beings like Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Oscar
Wilde and Simone Weil. The performance was dedicated to all innocent children
and animals who suffer destructive acts of war.
Songs/poems/texts: Lena
Måndotter. Song/Guitar/Harmonica: Ronnie Hall. Guitar: Tobias Widerberg.
Violon: Filip Runesson. Percussion: Thomas Rodrick. Scenography: Ronnie
Hall and Lena Måndotter. Lights/Sound: Ulli Ruchlinski. The songs
from this performance is released on a cd with the same title.
ORPHEUS - DO NOT TURN AROUND (2004)
A solo-performance by Lena Måndotter at Malmö Konsthall inspired
by the Greek myth of Orpheus, NOT the most known version where he fails
in the underworld. Instead an older version where Orpheus actually manages
his underworld journey well, rescuing souls, using his divine musical gifts.
Songs/Poetry/Video/Photography: Lena Måndotter. Guitar/Scenography: Ronnie Hall.
Violin/Mandola/Cello: Filip Runesson. Percussion: Thomas Rodrick. Lights/Sound:
Uli Ruchlinski.
MNEMOSYNE (2006)
A performance inspired by the Greek Myth
of Mnemosyne, mother of the Muses and goddess of memory.
Songs/Poems/Scenography/Photography: Lena Måndotter. Songs/Guitar/Bodhran-drum/Harmonica:
Ronnie Hall. Guitar/Bouzouki: Pierre Engström. Cello/Harmony Vocals:
Åsa Gjerstad. Recitation/Harmony Vocals: Petra Lindblom-Cerdic.
SONGS FROM THE RIVER (2008)
A solo-performance by Lena Måndotter inspired by the element of water and its symbolical meanings, and how songs
can arise where rivers meet the sea.
Songs/Poems/Photography: Lena Måndotter.
Guitar/Harmonica/Harmony Vocals: Ronnie Hall. Guitar/Bouzouki: Pierre Engström.
Cello/Harmony Vocals: Åsa Gjerstad. Besides Lena Måndotter's
compositions, the performance also included poems and texts by Federico
Garcia Lorca, Andrej Tarkovskij and Leonard Cohen.
CASSANDRA; KEEP ME CLOSE (2016)
A performance inspired by the Greek myth of the seeress and prophetess Cassandra.
The performance had its premier at Palladium in Malmö.
Songs/Poems/Photography: Lena Måndotter
Guitar/bouzouki: Pierre Engström
Cello/harmony vocals: Åsa Gjerstad Guitar/harmonica/bodhran/harmony vocals/scenography: Ronnie Hall
Sound technician: Ola Glans.
