{"id":642,"date":"2015-07-13T16:47:36","date_gmt":"2015-07-13T15:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/?p=642"},"modified":"2024-03-02T17:01:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T17:01:47","slug":"thorir-vidar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/thorir-vidar\/","title":{"rendered":"Thorir Vidar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thorir Vidar:<\/strong> If I had to put a label on myself \u2014 and I\u2019m not eager to \u2014 it would be landscape photographer<\/em>.
\nOne of my greatest interests about the subject of landscape is how we, humans, have gone about making it ours. Among other things how we\u2019ve built our homes in it.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo Thorir Vidar 2010<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I remember I started following Thorir Vidar, a photographer born in Iceland, living and working in Bergen, Norway, after seeing some of his impressive and sometimes chilling photographs of apartment buildings.
\nThorir:<\/strong> What do you find chilling about them?
\nMe:<\/strong> I\u2019m referring to the emotional distance in your photographs, the absence of people. As if the world is rather impersonal, as if the buildings and things exist maybe not because of people but despite of them, as a separate society. A strange realisation: people being of no importance.
\nThorir:<\/strong> I suppose I like to observe \u2014 not so much the people themselves, but the traces of people. To me these traces are very much about them, the people, not the fact that they are gone or missing, because they aren\u2019t. I simply chose a moment when they weren\u2019t present in the frame, but I think their presence is often quite strong nevertheless. Of course the photograph doesn\u2019t describe a specific person, it is up to me (and eventually a viewer) to make my own association. Outside the experience of making or looking at a photograph. Or rather, in addition to the experience.
\nMe:<\/strong> Oftentimes your photographs seem to be about some non-space, or an in-between space, something that I am drawn to as a subject as well.
\nThorir:<\/strong> We\u2019re taught a great deal, from an early age throughout our lives through different channels; what\u2019s important, positive, good, beautiful, and what isn\u2019t, and to me it\u2019s important to stop and question that from time to time (more like all the time). I have this need \u2014 and I think this applies to a great number of people \u2014 to find genuinely positive qualities in the desaturated. The mundane.
\nI often get the feeling that the relationship between nature and man is tainted by power struggle. Much more so than balance or harmony. That we, people, have the need to claim ourselves as the winner of a struggle, fight, to have complete control over every aspect of our lives and surroundings.
\nThis struggle with nature is quite prevalent in Iceland, where I come from, where there is a continuous political war (I can\u2019t not use this word to describe it) about to what degree the country should be turned into one giant hydro power plant. Somewhere within me there is a vast open space, uninhabited and untouched mostly and this space keeps pulling, always. It\u2019s hard to describe, to put a finger on what exactly it consists of (and perhaps not necessary), but this is the root of my interest for landscape.
\nAnother great interest of mine is homes. The endless stories that take place there, good and less good, colourful and grey\u2013ish, some even darker, much darker.
\nThen, apartment buildings, especially the massive ones, bring a larger scale to the concept of homes, and multiply it somehow. The presence of people becomes even greater I think.
\nMe:<\/strong> From your photographs I also get the sense you are searching for something…
\nThorir:<\/strong> Aren\u2019t we all?
\nI often photograph subjects that genuinely interest me. Then I might find myself photographing something without an apparent reason, simply making a document of a certain time and place.
\nBut often, when looking back at a project or photographs that I did perhaps years ago they reveal something to me that hadn\u2019t even crossed my mind. As if the photographs are somehow answering questions I never thought of asking. In that sense the photo seems to have been something besides just a document of a certain time and place, which is probably the most valuable aspect of photography for me.
\nMe:<\/strong> Your series New Landscapes<\/a><\/em> looks like you have not come to terms yet. What is it about? You wrote that you feel contempt looking at the \u201cpile\u201d that is New Landscapes<\/em>. A feeling I am most familiar with myself, I love landscapes and have tried to shoot them in an original way as well, but struggling with themes and motives.
\nThorir:<\/strong> New Landscapes<\/a><\/em> is an example of not consciously knowing what I\u2019m working with. The decision to work in this manner was a conscious one though, one I arrived at after putting quite a bit of energy into a series that had a much more rigid framework.
\nI understand better now what the images mean to me, than in the beginning, but I\u2019m not quite there. Like other personal work, New Landscapes<\/em> has come to a hiatus, it happened some time ago. I do hope that I will be able to continue working with the series because I think it holds some positive opportunities, but I\u2019m afraid that the answers I have gotten so far point in a direction that would make it difficult, if not impossible, to pursue it further.
\nThe initial motivation was something like \u201cI\u2019m sick of tying myself to predetermined concepts all the time so this time I\u2019ll shoot whatever comes to mind. No questions asked. And see what happens\u201d<\/em>. Well, something<\/em> happened. And for what it\u2019s worth it has been really interesting.
\nMe:<\/strong> However you also wrote on your blog<\/a> \u201c[this feeling of contempt] is the first sign in a long time that I might be on to something vaguely important.\u201d
\nThorir:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t mean vaguely important as being vague, but as the first genuine sign of importance at all. That this strong feeling for the work for the first time \u2014 in spite of it being this negative, or perhaps even because of it \u2014 was the first indication that there were some important issues involved. Nobody ever promised it would or should be easy, right?
\nMe:<\/strong> So, why do you photograph?
\nThorir:<\/strong> There is something about photography that allows me to feel more grounded somehow, than I would be without it. Which to me feels problematic (and an indication that perhaps I\u2019m not particularly grounded<\/em> at all) as so much of photography\u2019s nature is about the future and the past, and to a much lesser extent about the now. Then, I\u2019m sure others have very different connections with this issue.
\nWhen photographing I work alone, attempting to establish a relationship between myself and the subject and reducing the number of potential distractions as much as possible. It\u2019s about making sense of things, about \u2014 not seeing necessarily, but \u2014 feeling how subjects appear. Or, more accurately, seeing how it appears often offers an opportunity to better understand or sense the ingredients and their implications.
\nMe:<\/strong> Any major influences?
\nThorir:<\/strong> I don\u2019t look at much of other photographers\u2019 work these days, mostly because I got bored with the constant stream of input. No, not bored but exhausted.
\nThat said there are a few that have been a great influence, most of them since when I was studying. Robert Adams always resonates it seems, and I was (and still am) very intrigued by Lewis Baltz\u2019 work, especially since the early to mid 70\u2019s. These two (mostly, but along with a few others) were important influences regarding how I developed.
\n–
\nSome of the photographs I really love that we talked about:<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo Thorir Vidar 2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thorir:<\/strong> This one, from Homes. A series I\u2019m very fond of, but an image I struggle with. I find it predictable, too technical. Being able to pull it off was satisfying and all, but I\u2019m not quite comfortable with the photograph.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo Thorir Vidar 2010<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thorir:<\/strong> Another series I\u2019m quite fond of\u2014if I can call it series, they\u2019re all from the same afternoon walk\u2014this particular image isn\u2019t among my favorites though. But I find going back to this set interesting because not long after, a year or so I think, I began photographing quite differently. I see them as step on the way, so to speak.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
Photo Thorir Vidar 2002<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Thorir:<\/strong> Not sure what to say about this one, it has a very personal meaning for me yet I don\u2019t find it,.. good enough. I made it in 2002 I think, and perhaps it\u2019s only natural that the demands on my work have changed since then.
\nMe:<\/strong> Thank you so much for sharing Thorir, keep photographing.
\nThorir:<\/strong> Thank you Joeri, for inviting me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interview I conducted with one of my more approachable photography idols: Thorir Vidar. Including photographs of his that I find interesting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3161,"href":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642\/revisions\/3161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joerivanveen.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}