Anette friedrich johannessen

A threnody is a lamenting ode, song, hymn, or poem expressing grief, composed or performed as a memorial to people or things that have passed away.

Threnody is a performance project that directs attention towards the body, the loss of control, and physical pain. The intention of the performance is to explore the stages of grief, subjective identity, and questions related to mental health and notions of normality, structured through contrasts such as order/chaos and mental (un)health.

The performance can be interpreted as a physical manifestation of a mental state. The movements, the costume, the traces left behind, and the sound that fills the space become grief, longing, loneliness, the feeling of being an outsider, and the helplessness experienced when what once defined everything you were is torn away.

Throughout the process, ritual acts are explored—acts intended to heal and ease the transition into another life. These actions direct attention towards nature, its governing and innate presence within us, while also focusing on symbols that represent order and systems. The performance is repetitive and narrative, yet the process changes along the way, much like stories and memories change when they are retold.

The project consists entirely of costumes and objects intended to support the performance, but which can also exist independently, as traces left behind by the actions.

Threnody 3 was performed over 5 days in Room 61 at KMD, Bergen in late March 2026.

All photos by Sahar Tarzi.

Threnody NO2 at "Håsong 24" in Osterøy, Norway. The performance was held in an old wooden shoe factory in the beautiful village Hosanger. The duration of the performance was 6 hours.

All photos by Petter Lønningen

PAB Open Session on February 29th 2023.

All photos by Thor Brødreskifte

“PAB Open Session or "PAB OS" is a free experimental art space, open to all artists, performers and the public who share our interest in Performance Art. PAB OS has been organized by Performance Art Bergen since December 2012. The PAB Open Session events are performances done in public spaces, inspired by Bbeyond’s monthly meetings in Belfast. The concept is inclusive and open, so performance artists can have an arena to test new ideas and freely work with their intuition and with each other. We also aim to stimulate and foster exchange between improvisers from various fields and disciplines – artists, movers, musicians, actors, vocalists and above all those, who are crossing all the divisions and improvising interdisciplinary and inter-medially.”

Threnody during Creatures, organized by Y- event_series in Kutná Hora, Czechia.

Photos by Patrik Borecký

PAB OPEN SESSION at The Art Centre Kabuso

The event was in conjunction with the last weekend of the exhibition by Rita Marhaug and Therese Longva with the title Røynd og kjensle (Reality and Emotion).

Duration: 60 minutes

All photos by Petter Lønningen

Performed at Herdla.

Duration 30 minutes.

All photos by Petter Lønningen

A threnody is a wailing ode, song, hymn or poem of mourning composed or performed as a memorial for things or people that have passed.

Performed during the event “Garden of Delight” at Gothenburg Botanical Garden. The project was initiated by Pavana Reid, Denis Romanovski and Konstepidemin (Gothenburg), with the support from Performance Art Bergen.

All photos by Denis Romanovski.

Performance at Interval 12 in Essen September 2022.

All photos by Thomas Reul

All photos by Ulf Rugumayo Amundsen

Performance at USF Verftet Bergen November 2021.

Paper in different colours were folded till they where stiff and could stand by them self.

After folding ,I sew them to my body, to change my selv into a paper sculpture.

Performed at Bergen Train Station on December 17th.

The duration of the performance was one hour.

All photos by Ronja Michelsen

Wavelength LIVE ART

Wavelenght is an experimental Art Stunt initiated by Visual Artist Torild Stray, together with Performance Artist Anette Friedrich Johannessen and Noisemaker čirnū.

Through its multi-visual expression and noisescape it merges between live art and sight-spesific collaborations.

The documentation from the project are from episodes 2 and 3. All photos by Kim William Fonseca.

Art performance episodes are supported by Bergen Municipality Arts & Culture

“Moving Sand” was performed at The Glassworks in Derry, Northern Ireland in February 2020.

The event was initiated by Bbeyond, Belfast, titled “On the Way”.

“On the Way ...” uses Freedom and Identity as themes to develop a deep ecology where the role of artists is in promoting creativity as outlets of contemporary thinking moving the agenda from ego to eco and beyond echoing contemporary issues. Bbeyond endeavours to engage with these issues through promoting solo and groups works. The border was set up almost 100 years ago and coincides in timing with the current debate on Brexit that is opening up the issues of identity. Bbeyond propose “On the Way.......” as a pilot project and working processes, to highlight the concept of identity politics, as a process, not a product, and like the process of performance art with its potential to open up space/time to the experience of freedom by overcoming or eclipsing chronological time, even if only momentary. In presenting performance art to newer audiences based along the NI border Bbeyond propose to engage border people and anyone with an interest in the subject by presenting something ‘outside the box’, making people question and reflect on the meaning of identity and freedom.

The project was supported by Bbeyond and the City of Bergen.

A performance inspired by the tide, the sand and the landscape at Kjerringøy Land Art Biennale in August 2019.

The performance had a duration of 3, 5 hours, where repetition and failure were in focus. The sand was collected from other parts of the island, due the variation of colours and smell.

The baskets were made at sight, with the intention of not being able to hold the sand. During the performance the tide was going out, making the landscape more and more visible and easier to pass.

All photos by Glafira Severianova

performance at Finse with PAB and PAO in August.

A threnody is a wailing ode, song, hymn or poem of mourning composed or performed as a memorial for things or people that have passed.

Flaum

Performance with Rita Marhaug, Jan Egil Finne and Mari Nordahl in the exhibition Flaum by Torild Stray at Oseana Art Center, Norway.

The performance lasted for an hour. Materials were oars and a pile of paper, a red dress and rope.

Performance in conjunction with the exhibition “Indications” at Galleri Christinegaard, Bergen, Norway oct/nov 2017. Indications is a collaborative project by Anette Friedrich Johannessen & Malin Nyheim Overholth

The factory in Odda produced calcium cyanamide for use as fertilizer, along with other things. It had a severe impact on the community when it closed down in 2003,leaving many workers unemployed.  

During the exhibition period I performed with limestone 3 times, with a duration of 20 minutes. 

Performed during PAB OPEN, Bergen in 2017.

The planing had a duration of 3 hours.

Performance with coral and rope, were inspired by the connection between the sea and their boats, enhanced by the rope, which created a straight and clear line from the boats to the shore. This connection was for me a clear symbol of the  significance the boats have on  the Urak Lawoy tribe.The performance  with rope and coral stone had a duration of 50 minutes.

*The 1st International Live Performance Art Festival at Koh Lanta has thus been developed to use art as a means to relive the stories of the Urak Lavoy in Koh Lanta based on a belief that art can permeate all peoples and it can aesthetically and beautifully recount stories of the indigenous people.

During the ceremony performed by the Urak Lavoy, the sound of Rebana is essential. It reflects their deep connections with sacred beings and their ancestral spirits that continue to provide them protection. The sound of Rebana could be compared to their heartbeats that reinforce the identities and original spirit of the Urak Lavoy.

Hence, the title of the festival “The Rebana Dance of Urak Lavoy”

Performed during Sofia Underground 2017. Festival title: A Hundred.

A hundred repetition of the same exercise. A hundred ticks, flows, movements, until you change the form and do another hundreds of another note or exercise.

When repeated, does the image or material change its form? Does it make us forget, overlook it, and when reminded again, does it loose its meaning. Inside of the hundred, is time perceived at a fast pace or does move slowly, in a meditative form, bringing a sense of togetherness, of being, right here? If it runs fast, is it hasty, unorganized or present and focused.

Can a hundred give room for change, bring out forwardness, and keep the wheels turning. Is a hundred representative for chaos, is it messy or does it create order, systems, ruling and placement. Does it represent improvement, evolution and expansion? Alternatively, is it within a set of time increasing, gloomy or hostile?

A 4 hour long performance during PAB OPEN 2015.

Organizing and disorganizing piles of feathers.