In Sandra Kolstad’s latest single, “Unlearning,” she delves into the concept of unlearning through her powerful lyrics and captivating music. Now, a visually stunning video is being released, featuring Kolstad’s exploration of this concept through the art of dance, in collaboration with talented young eurythmists. #SaveTheDate – 03.12.2023 Sandra Kolstad live in Berlin at Berghain Kantine!
@sandrakolstad / ingrv.es/unlearning-q8i-p
The video serves as a documentation of a remarkable performance conducted by Kolstad at the prestigious Henie Onstad Art Center. Departing from traditional music video conventions, Kolstad explains her unique vision for this project: “I’ve created many music videos in my career and was sure that I didn’t want to make another one in the traditional sense. The format suddenly felt rigid and uninteresting. This time, I wanted to do something entirely different.”
While it has been four years since Kolstad released music under her name, she has been far from idle. In addition to making her debut as a literary author at Aschehoug Publishing with the novel “Two Words for Destruction,” she has also invested her talents into composing music for several theatre plays and even acting in some of them. Furthermore, she has produced a record featuring her composition for the poems of Nobel laureate Jon Fosse and collaborated on captivating performances with esteemed authors such as Edouard Louis and Ann Carson.
Reflecting on the video for “Unlearning,” Kolstad expresses her desire to capture the immediacy and raw energy found in performing arts, through the lens of film, instead of creating yet another staged music video. She states, “For ‘Unlearning,’ I wanted to capture some of the immediacy that occurs in the performing arts and see if it was possible to capture it on film, instead of creating yet another staged music video.”
The choreography for the video was developed in collaboration with the talented students and two eurythmy teachers. Kolstad describes the approach they took, saying, “To the extent that one can call it choreography, we were primarily focused on creating a kind of ritual. We aimed to perform something that felt deeply meaningful to all of us at the moment. The most important aspect was the experience itself. We engaged in numerous conversations about the essence of unlearning and sought to create a safe space where we could collectively explore what unlearning might look like when expressed through the language of dance. Whether we succeeded or not was beside the point. That, too, was part of the unlearning process – not seeking validation from external eyes, but rather, embracing the power of our own internal experience.”
Directed by Ingrid Styrkestad and Sandra Kolstad, and filmed and edited by Ingrid Styrkestad, the “Unlearning” video promises to be a groundbreaking exploration of the concept through dance, leaving a lasting impression on viewers and inspiring them to question their preconceived notions and embrace the transformative power of unlearning.
