You are unmistakable
Your deepest desires remain unknown
Last observed nesting in Sweden in 1967
You were spotted on a barren hilltop
Soon to forsake this land altogetherYou fly across economical and country borders
Yet the reason for your disappearance is uncertain
Is it the operation of biocide biotopic changes
Or is cultural boredom the reason you left intolerant Europe?
Searching for the European Roller (2016) is a lecture performance that weaves in and out of the history of a blue disappearing bird. Taking place within a scene like built installation; the lecture includes works on paper, drawings on white-board, plants, slide projector, over -head projector, bird bones, and a humidifier. Applying and experimenting with characters and disparate uses of an “authoritative” voice, the lecture brings to surface questions around culture-nature, belonging and memory. The lecture is delivered with humor and sensitivity, re-tracing the memories and emotions of the blue bird and questioning its need for departure and the strong national desire for its return.
Searching for the European Roller is conceived with the generous support from Ulla Fröberg Cramérs Stipendiestiftelse and Stiftelsen Den Nordiska Första S:t Johannislogens Jubelfond. Also thank you to Museum of Evolution (Uppsala University), Swedish National Archives, Giorgos Chloros, Anastastia Melekou, Emily Roysdon, Mikael Wranell, Thomas Linblad and Allan Böttern.