Format: Durational performance / installational textile sculpture
Project idea / project management / performer: Mari Bø​​
Visual design / construction / scenography / seam: Solveig Holthe Bydgnes
Construction / seam: Sally Turner
Music / sound: Frode Larsen
Technology / programming: Gaute Barlindhaug
Photos: Ingrid Eggen
Choreography assistant / outside eye: Eva Svaneblom
Performer project development / outside eye: Ellinor Ødegård Staurbakk
Scenographer pre-project: Mari Lotherington
Filming: Jacob de Hoop

ENE is a performance and installation exploring the body through movement, sound and textile. At the centre of the work is a large sculptural costume, created for and brought to life by one performer. Through movement and sound, ENE continuously shifts in shape and expression, existing somewhere between a body, a creature and a living sculpture.

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The work asks how a body can look, sound and move. Which bodies do we recognise, and what happens when we encounter a body that does not fit the forms we are used to? ENE explores how we read and assign meaning to bodies, and how ideas of beauty, gender and identity influence what we perceive as familiar, strange, attractive or uncomfortable.

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The costume is constructed from materials including pink polyester, sequins, neoprene, horsehair and sheepskin. Soft, shiny and artificial surfaces meet hair, skin and organic shapes, creating a body that can appear both beautiful and grotesque, familiar and unfamiliar. The costume functions simultaneously as body, sculpture and scenography.

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Sound is an important part of ENE. Created and performed by Frode Larsen, the composition moves between singing, humming, grunting and other vocal sounds. At times beautiful or intimate, at others humorous, strange or slightly unsettling, the sound gives ENE another way of communicating with its surroundings.

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ENE can appear indoors or outdoors, in galleries, museums, schools and public spaces. Rather than separating itself from its surroundings, the work responds to the place in which it is shown. ENE may move among an audience, follow the architecture of a building, encounter a sculpture or another artwork, or position itself within a landscape. The meetings that arise between ENE, its surroundings and the people who encounter it become part of the performance.

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The work can take different forms and durations depending on the context. In longer performances, ENE can remain present as a performative installation where audiences are free to come and go. In other settings, the encounter may be shorter and more concentrated.

ENE was developed through a research phase beginning in 2023 and premiered at the Arctic Arts Festival / Festspillene i Nord-Norge in 2025. Since then, the work has continued to develop through encounters with different spaces, audiences and artistic contexts.

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Has been played:

2026 – Critical Costume, London College of Fashion / University of the Arts London, London
2026 – Bodø Biennale / BAREDANS, Bodø
2026 – Nordnorsken, Nordnorsk Kunstnersenter
2026 – Haugar Kunstmuseum / Figurfestspillene, Tønsberg
2026 – Oslo Danser / Dansens Dager, Oslo
2025 – The 138th National Art Exhibition / Høstutstillingen, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
2025 – True Northern Arts Festival / Festspillene i Nord-Norge, Harstad
2025 – Stamsund Teaterfestival, Stamsund

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Supported by

- 2026 Norsk Kulturråd - Gjestespill og turneer

- 2024-2025 Co-production with Figurteatret i Nordland (Nordland Visual Theatre )

- 2025 Fond for Utøvende Kunstnere 

- 2024 Norsk Kulturråd - Fri Scenekunst dans

- Norsk Kulturråd - Kunstnerstipend for yngre nyetablerte kunstnere
- 2023 Raske Penger - Davvi - Senter for scenekunst

- 2022 Norsk Kulturråd - Forprosjekt scenekunst