Day of wrath and doom impending
David’s word with Sibyll’s blending
Heaven and earth in ashes ending
This is the first verse of the English translation of Dies Irae, Thomas of Celano’s Latin hymn, approved for use as a funeral mass sequence. Dies Irae is also the title of visual artist Gabríela Friðriksdóttir’s short film. A rhapsody in black and white, the film comprises of concrete and abstract moments conveying joy, grief, death and resurrection. The soundscape is based on a reversed musical rendering of Dies Irae, as performed by brothers of the Abbey of Notre Dame. The treatment results in a sound resembling the rumbles of an ocean being pulled and pushed by the moon. Breathe in and everything comes alive, breathe out and for a second everything will die; all things are in a flux, they move back and forth, between life and death.
The future is a reflection of the past, the present a boat without oars on a tranquil lake.
Duration 15 min.
(in loop)
Concept and direction Gabríela Friðriksdóttir
in collaboration with Erna Ómarsdóttir and Valdimar Jóhannsson
music Brothers of the Abbey of Notre Dame
(text from Thomas of Celano’s Requiem)
costumes Hrafnhildur Hólmgeirsdóttir
cinematography Bjarni Grímsson og Frosti Jón Runólfsson
editor Pierre Alain Giraud
soundscape Valdimar Jóhannsson
make-up Andrea Helgadóttir
performers Erna Ómarsdóttir, Valdimar Jóhannsson, Lovísa Ósk Gunnarsdóttir and Hannes Þór Egilsson
Dies Irae is part of SACRIFICE – a festival of common things made holy.
SACRIFICE is a collection of works that stress the importance of inspiration, creativity and human contact. They range from performance to installation, from the immersive to the voyeuristic, from sound to silence. The festival is a journey through various definitions of theatrical presentation and choreography, with particular focus on the human body, its movements and our ways of expression.
SACRIFICE also includes the following pieces:
UNION OF THE NORTH by Matthew Barney, Erna Ómarsdóttir and Valdimar Jóhannsson
SHRINE by Erna Ómarsdóttir and Valdimar Jóhannsson
NO TOMORROW by Ragnar Kjartansson, Margrét Bjarnadóttir and Bryce Dessner
SACRIFICE
a festival of common things made holy
Produced by Iceland Dance Company, in collaboration with Lókal Performing Arts Reykjavík and the Reykjavík City Theatre.
Artistic direction: Erna Ómarsdóttir and Valdimar Jóhannsson.
Co-produced by Shalala, SPRING Festival Utrecht, Tanzhaus Düsseldorf, BUDA Kotrjik and Reykjavík Dance Festival (apap).