Carla Wedderkopp current research
Projects
Participation-based performance, 02.08.2026
Shown in the lower exhibition hall, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo.
Text & direction
The performance concluded the previous work, The casting call.
On the day of the performance, eleven audiences were assigned characters from a script written to reflect a callback/audition situation. From that dramaturgical starting point, we co-performed a dramatic reading of the script.
Shown in the lower exhibition hall, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo.
Text & direction
The performance concluded the previous work, The casting call.
On the day of the performance, eleven audiences were assigned characters from a script written to reflect a callback/audition situation. From that dramaturgical starting point, we co-performed a dramatic reading of the script.
Participation-based performance and installation in various dimensions (1,5m x 2,5m space).
Video, sound and text
Our bodies register auditioning as a competition. When the risk of rejection occurs, it’s in our biology to mold and adapt ourselves in the hope to be chosen.
Shown as a part of the MFA degree show at Kunstnernes Hus, “The casting call” consists of a script on a table, providing directions for a casting call, which is enacted in the shown video. When is started, the casting call begins, and the audience can follow the script, reading the lines assigned to “actor (you)”. When one has completed the audition, there is the opportunity to fill in a contact sheet and place it in the document tray.
Shown as a part of the MFA degree show at Kunstnernes Hus, “The casting call” consists of a script on a table, providing directions for a casting call, which is enacted in the shown video. When is started, the casting call begins, and the audience can follow the script, reading the lines assigned to “actor (you)”. When one has completed the audition, there is the opportunity to fill in a contact sheet and place it in the document tray.
The work extends into the 1st and 2nd of August, where the participating audiences who filled in the contact sheet are called back for their second audition: “The callback”. This will be a blend of performance, musical, an audition that turns into a theatrical daydream and nightmare.
Site specific total installation in various dimensions (area of 46 m2)
Construction wood, textile, plaster, head lamps, smoke machine, sound in stereo played from four loud speakers
As a part of the MFA graduation at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, I showed the solo degree project “There is a place that only you have seen” at Kunstnernes Hus, in The Academy Room. The project was a blend of an immersive musical composition, a vocal storytelling (lyrics below) and a total installation of sculpture, mist and light, activated by the audience as they shone the assigned head lamps around the room. I finished the project with a performance on the 28th of February, featuring artist and musician Agnes Olander and myself, as seen and heard above.
There is a place that only you have seen
There is a room that only you can visit
There is a cavity
There is a well
You know
You always did know
You have to forget everything else
You know that
You’re a boat
You’re an anglerfish
You’re a fanfare
You’re a lighthouse
You’re smoke traveling through a clay pipe
You’re sound bouncing off distant walls
You’re every film you’ve ever seen
You’ve traced it in sketches
You know
that
There is a place that only you have seen
There is a place that only you have seen
There is a room that only you can visit
There is a cavity
There is a well
You know
You always did know
You have to forget everything else
You know that
You’re a boat
You’re an anglerfish
You’re a fanfare
You’re a lighthouse
You’re smoke traveling through a clay pipe
You’re sound bouncing off distant walls
You’re every film you’ve ever seen
You’ve traced it in sketches
You know
that
There is a place that only you have seen
Total installation in various dimensions (spatial area 133m2)
Slide projector, mirror, rotating motor, smoke machine, stereo sound played from four loud speakers
Shown as a solo show in Seilduken 2, a big white space in Oslo National Academy of the Arts, this was a materialization of research around romance and dating culture, alongside my long standing research of lighthouses. As the mirror turned in the middle of the big dark room, laid in a thick mist, the light of the slide projector created a minimalistic lighthouse by casting a beam of light around the room as a cinematic soundtrack of music and storytelling (lyrics below) was heard from every corner.
Now I see why I had to meet you
it had to be you
It had to be
It always will be
It always will be the ultimate romance
We’ll never get closer than this
I’ll never be able to leave
I love everything you taught me
Often, I talk to myself and imagine what you would reply
It had to be you
It had to be you
It always will be
It has to be
The next time I meet someone else
It will be august
the subway is swollen with heat
At the next stop, the smell of cedarwood comes in and takes a seat right next to me
The carriage is full
I feel my pulse in my hands and temples and it’s almost sickening
I’ll close my eyes, I’ll take a deep breath
of everyone’s sweat and the deep wooden notes
Trying to enjoy the sensuality of a possession that never leaves
it just flares like hives or seasonal allergies
It would seem that longing is eternal
I love when I remember
I’ll never be able to leave
It had to be you
It had to be you
It always will be
It has to be
Slide projector, mirror, rotating motor, smoke machine, stereo sound played from four loud speakers
Shown as a solo show in Seilduken 2, a big white space in Oslo National Academy of the Arts, this was a materialization of research around romance and dating culture, alongside my long standing research of lighthouses. As the mirror turned in the middle of the big dark room, laid in a thick mist, the light of the slide projector created a minimalistic lighthouse by casting a beam of light around the room as a cinematic soundtrack of music and storytelling (lyrics below) was heard from every corner.
Now I see why I had to meet you
it had to be you
It had to be
It always will be
It always will be the ultimate romance
We’ll never get closer than this
I’ll never be able to leave
I love everything you taught me
Often, I talk to myself and imagine what you would reply
It had to be you
It had to be you
It always will be
It has to be
The next time I meet someone else
It will be august
the subway is swollen with heat
At the next stop, the smell of cedarwood comes in and takes a seat right next to me
The carriage is full
I feel my pulse in my hands and temples and it’s almost sickening
I’ll close my eyes, I’ll take a deep breath
of everyone’s sweat and the deep wooden notes
Trying to enjoy the sensuality of a possession that never leaves
it just flares like hives or seasonal allergies
It would seem that longing is eternal
I love when I remember
I’ll never be able to leave
It had to be you
It had to be you
It always will be
It has to be
Performative installation in various dimensions.
Flat screen monitor 32”, stereo sound from two loud speakers, two microphones and text on video
In “Compulsory Duet”, musical composition in a naive but cinematic style becomes a tool for creating a theatrical scenography and atmosphere, allowing for the audiences to act out their inner movie monologue. A conversation between lovers is shown moving across a screen in a video that resembles the style of karaoke. A very insisting voiceover intro urges the audience to get up and grab a microphone. Not two performances of the work are alike, as the audience becomes the performer. The vibe can shift from comedic to genuine in an instant, depending on the duet partner one is faced with. The work has been shown in Cetinje, Montenegro at The Faculty of Fine Arts in October 2024 as well as at “Khio Open 2024” in Oslo in November 2024.
Flat screen monitor 32”, stereo sound from two loud speakers, two microphones and text on video
In “Compulsory Duet”, musical composition in a naive but cinematic style becomes a tool for creating a theatrical scenography and atmosphere, allowing for the audiences to act out their inner movie monologue. A conversation between lovers is shown moving across a screen in a video that resembles the style of karaoke. A very insisting voiceover intro urges the audience to get up and grab a microphone. Not two performances of the work are alike, as the audience becomes the performer. The vibe can shift from comedic to genuine in an instant, depending on the duet partner one is faced with. The work has been shown in Cetinje, Montenegro at The Faculty of Fine Arts in October 2024 as well as at “Khio Open 2024” in Oslo in November 2024.
Site specific total installation and performance in various dimensions
Silicone, costume (nurse uniform and latex), water, text and found materials
Shown as my contribution to the BFA degree show from The Art Academy in Tromsø at Tromsø Kunstforening, the project “Directions for Care” lends rules from live action role playing and card game Magic the Gathering, while applying them to a body horror scenario derived from my experiences as a municipal nursing assistant. The NPC (non-player character) Sharon lurks around, handing out character cards to the audience, allowing them to act with each other in the work, expanding the story with their interpretations.
At the center of the installation is a live size silicone sculpture of a body, ambiguous in gender and physical health. The body is placed in a metal bathtub, filled with murky bath water.
On the last day of the exhibition, I held a finissage performance as Sharon, reading a passage from the exhibition’s publication. Video documentation can be found at the end of the slideshow above.
Silicone, costume (nurse uniform and latex), water, text and found materials
Shown as my contribution to the BFA degree show from The Art Academy in Tromsø at Tromsø Kunstforening, the project “Directions for Care” lends rules from live action role playing and card game Magic the Gathering, while applying them to a body horror scenario derived from my experiences as a municipal nursing assistant. The NPC (non-player character) Sharon lurks around, handing out character cards to the audience, allowing them to act with each other in the work, expanding the story with their interpretations.
At the center of the installation is a live size silicone sculpture of a body, ambiguous in gender and physical health. The body is placed in a metal bathtub, filled with murky bath water.
On the last day of the exhibition, I held a finissage performance as Sharon, reading a passage from the exhibition’s publication. Video documentation can be found at the end of the slideshow above.
Installation
18 glass bottles (sizes varying from 7 x 12 cm - 15 x 35 cm), bed sheets, various liquids
Shown as part of the group exhibition “CONTINUUM OF US” at Arden Asbæk Gallery.
Bedsheets from the earlier work slip, encapsulating memories and scent, was conserved and distilled in various ways, using traditional methods such as enflourage and steam destillation.
I managed to produce a successful extract, holding the scent of a warm body in the bedsheets (as seen in picture 6/6 “Steam Destillate 15/18”).
This work was shown alongside a re-installment of the work slip in the exhibition.
Installation
255x200x80cm
Beds, curtains, various textiles and bedding, body scent
This work was shown as a part of the group exhibition “Det tar aldri slutt” at Havneterminalen Prostneset in Tromsø.
The use of negative space and traces of a body was heavily inspired by artist Félix González-Torres, speaking into similar queer love stories and the erasure of queer bodies.
I was interested in examining privacy and what would happen to a time sensitive imprint on a bed, made by a body, when new bodies would touch and change the presentation, the scent - would the original imprint inherently disappear? Is it possible to prolong a moment in time? Questions that led me to make the follow-up work, “slip in time”.
255x200x80cm
Beds, curtains, various textiles and bedding, body scent
This work was shown as a part of the group exhibition “Det tar aldri slutt” at Havneterminalen Prostneset in Tromsø.
The use of negative space and traces of a body was heavily inspired by artist Félix González-Torres, speaking into similar queer love stories and the erasure of queer bodies.
I was interested in examining privacy and what would happen to a time sensitive imprint on a bed, made by a body, when new bodies would touch and change the presentation, the scent - would the original imprint inherently disappear? Is it possible to prolong a moment in time? Questions that led me to make the follow-up work, “slip in time”.