Minne Kersten

Originally conceived as part of an installation, the video Constant Companion brings forth the mythological figure of the Raven as its main protagonist. The Raven is a bird with strong symbolic connotations; they are often interpreted as an omen, connected with tragedy and darkness – or seen as spirits from the supernatural world. By repurposing a domestic scenery as the backdrop for a twisted fable, attention is drawn to how the domestic is intended to satisfy our need for protection, comfort, and affirmation, but that this space is often multidimensional and can hold a multiplicity of stories and emotions. Here, Kersten draws on theories that suggest that some buildings are receptive to the energy produced by traumatic or emotional events, which they record and store. Throughout her practice Kersten has returned to the idea of domestic spaces as a psychological construct, one that we believe to be a shelter but which is in fact often porous and unstable. There is a general investigation in her work of how spaces function as expansions of consciousness and how architecture contains memories of embodied experience. Through video and sculpture Kersten seeks to visualise these intangible concepts.