I just came across Nadine Byrne’s website and got lost for a while. She has this whole mystic, otherworldliness thing going on and it’s a little creepy and a bit of a turn on at the same time. What ever it is that I’m feeling over here, I love what she’s doing. The wearable textile sculpture above is called The Grieving Suit. Just like the Grieving Suit, The Shaman Suit below, is meant to be multifunctional. Sure, it’s an interesting sculpture that you can present as an individual piece of art, using the human body as its frame. But they’re also costumes that she uses for her video and performance work. Awesome. The Shaman Suit’s design particularly allows for movement. The two “spirit helpers” on each side of the “shaman” are covered by a blanket which they can control and add movement to by moving their bodies. She also makes “sounds” with her sister Tanya Byrne, as Ectoplasm Girls. Peep their pix. Check “Forever Nothing” Tape on Living Tapes and an upcoming LP on iDEAL Recordings. It is an audiovisual project that started in 2007 and is heavily influenced by their fascination with death and dreams. She’s also in this other ongoing audiovisual project that started last year called Dream State Family Magic where every concert is a screening and every screening is a concert. The Magic State is sound and moving images, suspension of time, transcendence, mysticism, rituals and poetry. Members include Nadine Byrne, Linda Andersson, Amanda Forslöf, Kristin Forslöf, Lise Hallén and Katarina Olars. The idea for “Dream State Family Magic,” as Nadine puts it, “Sprung from the combination of two parallel projects. The Magic State is an ongoing audiovisual project dealing with subjects like transcendence and ritual through sound and video. Dream Family is not only a performance group, but also a cult whose mission is to carry out various rituals and ceremonies. They are not strangers to The Magic State, but have always been background figures in the visuals; this time they take their rightful place in the spotlight.”
Ectoplasm Girls Live at Göteborg
