36.5 / Bodo Inlet, Kenya, 2019, 12 minutes 6 seconds, excerpted from 12 hours, 6 minutes, single channel
36.5 / Te Manukanukatanga ō Hoturoa, 2022, 3 minutes, excerpted from 12 hours, 23 minutes, splitscreen
36.5 / Bay of All Saints, 2019, 12 minute, 16 seconds excerpted from 12 hour, 16 minutes, single channel
36.5 / New York Estuary, 2022, 1 hour, 27 minutes, excerpted from 12 hours, 39 minutes, splitscreen
THE DURATIONAL VIDEO ARTWORKS
There are six durational video artworks (12+ hours each). Each video artwork is the same duration as the corresponding performance work:
36.5 / North Sea, Netherlands, 2015
12 hours, 46 minutes
36.5 / Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, 2017
12 hours, 21 minutes
36.5 / Bay of All Saints, Brazil, 2019
12 hours, 16 minutes
36.5 / Bodo Inlet, Kenya, 2019
12 hours, 6 minutes
36.5 / Te Manukanukatanga ō Hoturoa, Aotearoa-New Zealand, 2022
12 hours, 23 minutes
36.5 / New York Estuary, Turtle Island-USA, 2022
12 hours, 39 minutes
These durational video artworks were edited within 10 days of completing the performance with purposefully long, slow shots lasting 10-20 minutes. They were then screened first on location so the community that helped make the work, could see it first.
Each video artwork can be exhibited as a 2-3 channel installation or combined to create a 4-18 channel installation. When installed as a 2-channel, the same durational video work is shown with two separate projectors/screens: the left channel starts at 00:00:00 and the right channel starts exactly halfway through, ie. 06:23:00 (North Sea), 06:10:30 (Bay of Bengal), or 06:08 (Bay of All Saints). The videos runs on a loop, ideally for 24 hours/day. The size is variable, but preferably large-scale on a suitable wall and/or as a surround experience with comfortable seating in the middle to encourage viewers to come and go or stay for substantial amounts of time.
The sound is layered and almost subconscious, played at a very low level. For each location, sound artist/composer collaborator Joshua Dumas has created a new layer of audio based on local climate data and media captured by Sunde on location. This soundscape functions in relationship to the previous locations’ soundscapes, creating a complex and layered low-level symphony for a multi-channel installation.
A full-scale exhibition will show all six durational video artworks in a 12 or 18 channel video installation (2-3 channels for each location) with six layers of audio (one per location).
These works are intentionally created as equally important autonomous works of video art, rather than documentation of the performances. Beginning with 36.5 / North Sea (4th work in the 36.5 series), Sunde decided she would collaborate with local Dutch filmmaker, Jonas de Witte, to capture the entire performance in real time from multiple camera perspectives. For 36.5 / Bay of Bengal, this concept continued and Sunde worked with Bangladeshi filmmaker, Saiful Wadud Helal. In Brazil, the 36.5 / Bay of All Saints camera crew increased to seven people under the direction of Brazilian filmmaker Guilherme Burgos, and everything was shot in 4K. In Kenya, Aotearoa-New Zealand, and New York, Sunde has continued to collaborate with local filmakers and shoot at the highest quality possible.