Laura Cemin & Bianca Hisse

How the Land Lies

Finland / Norway The Twenty23

How the Land Lies is a dance performance for 5 bodies and 3 LED scrolling signs, choreographed and directed by Bianca Hisse (Brazil/Norway) and Laura Cemin (Italy/Finland) in collaboration with dancers from immigrant backgrounds based in the Nordic countries.
The LEDs, usually encountered in public spaces as low-key advertisement signs, become vessels to convey how language influences mobility. Navigating between tourism slogans and visa questionnaires, the dancers –who carry experiences of migration and displacement between countries– interact with the text scrolling on the LED panels. As the words move on the screens, they are also moved by the bodies.
Meanings unfold and borders slowly blur: who can stay and who must leave? Who is seen and who remains hidden? What is allowed and what is forbidden?

Biography

Bianca Hisse (Brasil/Norway) and Laura Cemin (Italy/Finland) both operate at the intersection of visual art, performance and choreography. Their work, often presented in galleries and non-traditional performance spaces, focuses on language and on how contemporary discourses influence mobility and social circulation. They have been exploring such topics in their individual practices while developing their collaborative body of work. How the Land Lies is their first stage performance as a duo.

Performativity of public space has been a central concern in Bianca Hisse’s artistic process, which materialises through installations, sculptures and text-based interventions in the public realm. She graduated from Kunstakademiet i Tromsø in 2019 and has a BA in Performing Arts from Pontificia Universidade Catolica de São Paulo (2016). Her work has been shown across Norway and internationally, including: Kunstnernes Hus, PODIUM Oslo, Tromsø Kunstforening (NO), and MAR Museum (AR). She has performed in festivals such as: Sofia Performance Art Festival (BG), Performance Art Bergen (NO), The 12th International Media Arts Festival (RU), BONE Performance Art Festival (CH), Mediterranea Biennale 19 (SM), Arctic Action Festival (Svalbard), OpenArt Biennale (SE), and BienalSur – International Biennial of Contemporary Art of South America.

Laura Cemin’s practice mixes movement, writing and temporality with the intention of blurring the boundaries between dance and visual art. Although her work always originates from a performative action, it can appear in multiple media and forms, such as text, photographs and installations with objects. She received an MFA from Umeå University of Fine Arts in 2019. Previous to Fine Art education, she worked professionally for Ballet West, a dance company based in Salt Lake City (USA). Her work as a maker has been presented internationally in galleries and museums, such as Bildmuseet (SE), Museum für Neue Kunst (DE), Tallinn Art Hall (EE), Kiasma (FI) and the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York.