“Everything has its secret. The Sacred Room of blue” Artfilm

An eco-poetic essay about the connection between fermenting processes of woad and indigo and our collective memories of blue and thankfulness, a caring and belonging with microbes in a deeper sense.


"The brain expands between outer space
 and the gut and the dye vat. 
Blue, a web of light, 
energy, sound, 
and moving bodies, 
it’s not just a shade; 
it’s the breath, 
the wildness of my heart, 
the universe and back
and powerful plants
The colour vibrates with our senses 
and within our cells, it carries knowledge
inherited and the aesthetic of honour and value". 
Thank you!

(part of the text from the film)

I embrace the poetic and sensuality of embodiment, where the colour from plants of Indigo and woad is highlighted through a deeper relationships of interconnection and coexistence between different life forms, powerful plants the fibres and our collective memories of blue and gratitude’s.

With my body I work with the fermentation processes of woad and indigo as a ritual, its processes of sensory perception and its communication with the environment, the bacteria in my gut and the consciousness it brings. These dye vats of microbes and its rituals connect me not only to the artisans who have done this long before me, but also to its unique engagement and uniqueness of a complex process between me, plants, fibre, fungi and bacteria meet and thrive. To a deeper and complex relationship we human have with microbes, the interconnection of life and death.

As an active fermenter, I am fascinated by the relationships that arise between the microorganism and myself. The fermentation vats are like changing bodies that communicate and act as channels across time, space, colour, and life's sacredness. They become a part of my home and interact with my bacteria, time, and life. Each vat has its own kind of spirit and reacts to any changes and the dynamics of the environment. Carefully,  I talk to and feed them. Scientifically, these fermentation vats are communities of microorganisms – bacteria, and over time these communities of bacteria are replaced by new communities. Bacterial activity fluctuates in these fermentation vats and gives all kinds of different colour clusters. 

Bacterial activity does not stop in these fermentation – vat, it fluctuates. The process of dyeing may die, but the vat lives on. The colour processes of fermentations takes me beyond myself and connect me with others who done this for thousands of years before me and it bring me in to spaces of new times of relationships.
"We love to contemplate blue,” Goethe wrote, “not because it advances to us, but because it draws us after it.”  

@Jeanette Schäring

This film was produced in 2023 

Editor of video and sound Denis Romanovski

Svenska

Allting har en egen hemlighet. Blåeriets heliga rum

En konstnärlig film som är en eco-poetisk essä 

“Hjärnan expanderar mellan yttre rymden
och tarmen och färgkärlet”
(Del av Text från filmen)

Sammankoppling och samexistens mellan kraftfulla växter, färgjäsningsprocesser och våra kollektiva minnen av blått och tacksamhet, historia, våra sinnen kopplade till platsen, mystisk och nya berättelse skapas i magin.

Färg som skapas genom jäsningsprocesser  – bakterier, en kommunikation med mer än människa. Dessa processer förbinder mig med inte bara de som har gjort detta i tusentals år före mig, utan också med mina äldsta förfäder; bakterierna. Processerna för mig in i nya utrymmen och tider av relationer och tacksamhet.

Dessa jäsningskärl är som känsliga föränderliga kroppar som kommunicerar och fungerar som kanaler över tid, rum, färg, vårt känsliga ekosystem och livets hemligheter. Dessa processer blir en del av mitt hem och interagerar med mina bakterier, tid och rum. Varje kyp har sin egen typ av sinne och reagerar på alla förändringar och dynamiken i miljön och livet. Försiktigt, pratar jag och matar dem. Vetenskapligt sett är dessa jäsningskärl av kolonier – samhällen av mikroorganismer – bakterier, och med tiden ersätts dessa till nya kolonier av bakterie samhällen. Bakterieaktiviteten fluktuerar i dessa jäsningsprocesser.