sig

A Piano is Too Heavy to Carry (2022)
Video installation
8 min



A Piano is Too Heavy to Carry intertwines narratives about human bodies, the bodies of instruments and nature in a speculative future scenario. It depicts a vision of a future hunter-gatherer society, where a mixture of prehistoric objects and post-apocalyptic speculations give shape to the black holes in history and nourish thoughts about an imaginary future.

The protagonist of the film is the gatherer. A cyborg-like hybrid of organism and machine, reality and fantasy, past and future. The gatherer does not feed on triumph or defeat, but on repetition, on the circular and the continuous activity of hauling as essential to life. As a counter-narrative to the hunter’s brave exploits, the gatherer represents the eternal hauling-home-of-stuff as part of our history, but also makes clear that the gathering of all the artefacts underpinning our worldview is both selective and subjective.

The film revolves around the writing of stories and of history, and how stories about the future are shaped by stories about the past, which are in turn influenced by our own time and space.

The film is made in collaboration with Nina Møller.

The work is made with technical support by Lars Hemmingen Nørgaard (CGI). Voice acting by Emma Tigan and Aisyah Zulkarnain.

Installation view. Regelbau 411. 2022. Photo: Mikkel Kaldal.

Installation view. Regelbau 411. 2022. Photo: Mikkel Kaldal.

Installation view. Regelbau 411. 2022. Photo: Mikkel Kaldal.
Video still. 2022.
Video still. 2022.