| In collaboration with Tamar Guimaraes Camera: Kasper Akhøj Pedersen |
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The text is recited to the tune of traditional Danish songs - as folk songs narrate the mythical landscape of the nation - stressing the language course texts’ roots in 19th century ideologies: The national romantic construction of national identity around a “mother tongue” and the idea of natural beauty, born from anxieties over national borders and betraying a nostalgic desire for a return to an ‘original’ state of being.
The film is constructed as a sequence of tableaux. It was shot in a room at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts known as Kuppelsalen (The Domed Hall), an 18th century baroque room housing examples of the Danish painting tradition.
A quote from a text by Sue Wright on langage and national identity contextualizes the work:
“19th century nationalism created the concept of “linguistic minority” as an inevitable corollary to the desire for national cohesion and homogeneity. Where nationalistic ideology was strong, “linguistic minority” was not simply a concept but also a “problem”. In the inclusive civic brand of nationalism, the minority was to be assimilated so that its members could participate fully in the life of the nation. Those who refused to assimilate were seen to threaten the state”
Shown at "Thinking Aloud", Overgaden - Institute of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, Denmark; "Cast Some Light", Center for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, Scotland and "Possibility of Change", Åland Art Museum, Åland, Finland.
Stills from "The Most Beautilful Place"
cape, it rather illustrates the grammar of national identity, locality and social cohesion.