bettina von zwehl

Alina, 2004  Bettina von Zwehl

Bettina von Zwehl spoke about her work last week and at the end of the lecture she gave the everyone in the audience a slide from the presentation - symbolically marking a move from slideshow/analogue to powerpoint/digital. 

In the lucky dip I pulled out the image above which is from a series - created for a Photoworks commission - in which Royal College of Music students were photographed when totally absorbed listening to music for twenty minutes in the dark. 

In the morning we had been introduced to Relational Art - time/place, effect, embodiment - and in a way I felt that Bettina's work bore the elements of this way of working as she is dependent on a reaction from the participant in order to create the work. 

Bettina sets up situations in a specified place - her studio or on location - where she employs members of the public to work with her in the creation of an image. In this case she asked music students to listen to Fur Alina by Arvo Part in the dark for a prolonged period of time. The music - a calm, meditative and repetitive piece - is played through twice over a twenty minute period and at some point the artist sets off a sudden flash, perhaps once or twice - in order to capture a private moment of intense concentration. The resonant images become the embodiment of Bettina's original idea for the work.

By setting up what is almost a scientific experiment or laboratory situation, Bettina is able to capture moments of extreme beauty and quiet reflection that are both honest and distinctly human.