Det siste utbruddet / The Last Volcano
Roderick Coover
This video project explores Norwegian folk histories that return as fragments in light of ongoing volcanic eruptions. The project was recorded in Bergen following the disruptions caused by the activities of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. A folk history of disaster is set against slowly revolving images set in a contemporary landscape. This is the first of a series of works recorded in Norway that juxtapose folk histories and contemporary events to explore narrative and associative characteristics of cultural anxieties and collective memory. The project was researched and filmed by Roderick Coover in 2010 thanks to a distinguished-scholar-in-residence award from the University of Bergen. The project was produced in collaboration with Scott Rettberg (writer), Gro JŅrstad Nilsen (voice) and Jan Arild Breistein (voice).
Credits
Direction: Roderick Coover
Writing: Scott Rettberg
Translation by: Google, Daniel Apollon, Jill Walker Rettberg, and Gro JŅrstad Nilsen
Voices: Gro JŅrstad Nilsen and Jan Arild Breistein
Co-producers: Roderick Coover and Scott Rettberg
Language: Norwegian with English subtitles
Running Time 6:15
Format: 16×9
Biography
Roderick Coover is Associate Professor at Temple University, where he teaches courses in visual research and documentary methods. He specializes in multimedia forms of representation. His works include, among others, Cultures in Webs: Working In Hypermedia With The Documentary Image (www.culturesinwebs.com), From Verite To Virtual: Conversations On The Frontier Of Documentary Film And Visual Anthropology (www.der. org), The Theory Of Time Here (www.vdb.org), The Language Of Wine: An Ethnography Of Work, Wine And The Senses (www.languageofwine.com), Unknown Territories (www.unknownterritories.org), and the forthcoming book project Switching Codes: Thinking Through Digital Technologies In The Humanities And Arts (University of Chicago Press), among others. He has received awards from organizations such as USIS-Fulbight, the LEF Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.
