Infernal Monologue
2025
7 channel synchronised video and sound installation, synchronised LED lights, theatre staging, truss, 666 books of 666 pages, large black metal fans, t-shirts
installation view Kunsthall 3,14, Bergen
Infernal Monologue is a cacophonous rasping breath from the void behind the voice; it is a negated pit of cancelled language; it is the delirium found at the frontiers of sense; it is an embodied form of speaking wihtout saying anything. The total installation explores the absolute negation of language as act of refusal, and as comment upon the linguistically saturated mediascape of contemporary digital culture, through the performative lens of black metal and glossolalia.
The work blends the illegible semantics of twisted black metal logos and “necro-sounds” with the acts of religious speaking in tongues, also known as glossolalia. A multi-channel spatial soundscape combining the artist’s voice with black metal musician BAPHY echoes through the gallery whilst onscreen appears an unreadable narrative conveyed through a specially commissioned typeface based on Black Metal logos. 666 books filled with the same unreadable text blow in artificially generated wind that blasts intermittently from large fans, along with two large flags that repeat the exhibition’s logo design. The intermittant wind is a reference to scripture in which a wind is felt before the occurance of glossolalia.
Documentation of the work is from the solo exhibition that took place at Kunsthall 3,14 in 2025.
Supported by Kulturdirektoratet, Kunstsentrene i Norge, Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond, Bergen Kommune, Carte Blanche, BIT Teatergarasjen, and Bergen senter for elektronisk kunst.
Typeface design: Ben King
Additional vocals: BAPHY (Thea Ossum)
Technical Support: Arthur Hureau
Photos: Thor Brødreskift
Video: Arthur Hureau