Polzin and Aadland's Peer Gynt Premieres in Bergen

A visualisation by Alexander Polzin in association with Eivind Aadland

Commissioned by Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, October 23, 24

Our aim is to unite outstanding performers from the world of classical music with innovative visual artists, other creative partners, international venues and arts organisations. Last nights première of a unique collaboration between the respected Norwegian conductor Eivind Aadland and German artist Alexander Polzin in Bergen was a perfect example. Originally conceived by Maestro Arts, the project has been commissioned by Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra to commemorate 200 years of Norwegian independence.

The project is an unique work of art, offering a fascinating and contemporary visualisation of the familiar story.  At the heart of the project is an original selection of music from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt. Based on the text from Ibsen's play, Polzin has created a visualisation enabling the audience to feel that Peer Gynt's dreams and fantasies are projected from his mind. Polzin’s work is not an illustration of the story – rather it raises questions of universal character.

Using state of the art video techniques, Polzin has animated a series of specially-created paintings and quotes from Ibsen's text. He depicts Peer Gynt's experiences in his natural surroundings in different ways, e.g. reducing the wider world into the microcosm of a kitchen... thus taking the audience to wherever Peer Gynt’s fantasies, dreams and mad adventures take him. The end result is similar to the audience watching a silent movie: a beautiful series of fantastical, gently changing images, inspired by Fritz Lang's Wagner movies from the early 1920s.