Even the first people gathered around the Light around the fire, telling stories, celebrating rituals and creating communities. Timon & Melchior Grau take up this archaic symbol of fire with the Bonfire sculpture and transform the art institution into a dynamic place. The futuristic light sculpture delivers an expressive light performance that creates an immersive light experience. Feelings of closeness and warmth, but also of being overwhelmed, are activated by Bonfire.

For the opening of the Biennale Timon & Melchior Grau expanded the immersive experience of the exhibition with their new performance work "Celebration of Life", performed by Hammal in the form of a Youyou (Ululation). Celebration of Life is a piece about the ambiguity of life, about joy and pain, about cohesion and individuality.

A youyou (ululation) is a long, wavering, high-pitched vocal sound that resembles a howl with a trilling character. It is produced by a high, loud voice accompanied by a rapid back and forth movement of the tongue and uvula. Chanting is practiced either alone or as part of certain singing styles at various ritual community events (e.g. weddings or funerals) to express strong feelings. Youyou is an intense expression of feeling and life. The chant is practiced in all parts of Africa, the Middle East and Central and South Asia. It is also practiced in some places in Europe, such as Cyprus, and in the diaspora community originating from these areas.

The Bergen Triennial, initiated by the artist Saadane Afif, goes in search of a mysterious form, a seven-sided solid body called Heptahedron. Her search is accompanied by seven enigmatic figures whom she encounters along the way: the professor, the bonimenteur, the moped driver, the fortune teller, an acrobat, the coal man and the tourist. In Bergen, Timon & Melchior Grau made the figure of the Bonimenteur tangible.

Initiated by: Saâdane Afif

Curator: Yasmine d'O

Sound: Puce Mary

Exhibition period: September 8 - November 6, 2022