Illuminating the Non-Representable by Hilde Kramer

Illustration as research from within the field is of relatively new practice. The illustrators discourse on representation (Yannicopoulou & Alaca 2018 ), theory (Doyle, Grove and Sherman 2018, Male 2019, Gannon and Fauchon 2021), and critical writing on illustration practice was hardly found before The Journal of Illustration was first issued in 2014, followed by artistic research through illustration (Black, 2014; Rysjedal, 2019; Spicer, 2019). This research project developed as response to a rise in hate crime towards refugees and the targeting of European Jews in recent decade. A pilot project (This Is a Human Being 2016-2019) treated how narratives of the Holocaust may avoid contributing to overwriting of history or cultural appropriation. Asking how illustration in an expanded approach may communicate profound human issues typically considered unrepresentable, this new project hopes to explore representation and the narratives of “us” and “the others” in the contemporary world through illustration as starting-point for cross-disciplinary projects. The participants from different disciplines, have interacted democratically on common humanist themes to explore the transformative role of illustration in contemporary communication. our projects should afford contemplation of illustration as an enhanced, decelerated way of looking; and drawing as a process for understanding - a way of engaging in understanding the other, as much as expressing one’s own needs (McCartney, 2016). This AR project consisted of three symposia and three work packages, and the artistic research unfolded in the symbiosis of these elements. Our investigation of illustration across media and materials continues as dissemination and exhibitions even after the conclusion of the work packages in 2024.

The artistic research project Book of Remembrance comes from WPII B-O-O-K. Imi Maufe was projectleader and artistic force behind the concept. It consists of an artist book and a performance that was performed at various locations in Bergen 5th-12th September 2022.

What is a character? How do illustrators create their visual universes? Interviews with illustrators and mediation of the illustration research in the project. Listen here (in Norwegian): https://soundcloud.com/2021ipodden

The artistic research project Illuminating the Non-Representable is more or less a concluded. Since our symposium in June 2023, the project has been presented at Kingston University UK, Polín Museum in Warsaw, PL, in St. Louis US, University of Minho, PT, Ljubljana, SI. We continue disseminating the project through exhibitions, publications and conference presentations throughout 2024 before moving on to new projects on #intersubjectivity #inclusion #diversity .

CALL FOR PAPERS! Volume 10 Issue #2 of the Journal of Illustration will gather papers, visual essays, and other reports related to illustration research on profound human issues typically considered unrepresentable or non-representable, and explores representation and the narratives of “us” and “the others”. Submissions from those who already participated in any capacity and from those who are inspired by the themes are encouraged to submit. Read full call here https://www.illustrationresearch.org/booking-current-cfp

How Long Did You Stay in the Water? is a sound installation made as a collaboration between Fredrik Rysjedal (artistic leader), Ana Carrasco (Meteorological institute, Oslo) who provided the algorithms, and head engineed at the Faculty of Fine Art,Music and Design in Bergen, Arthur Hureau. It has been available to an audience 8th - 10th October 202=, and 23rd February 2023.

Read more in Fredrik Rysjedal's exposition here

October 2020: The first IN-R symposium Transposition as Artistic Practice: See the symposium her: DAY 1 and DAY 2

HVIS DETTE VAR ET MENNESKE (This is a Human Being) is a didactic workshop method for teaching about antisemitism and racism. The research is developed in cooperation with Falstadsenteretet in Trøndelag. Continue reading

The B-O-O-K project explores performative aspects of artist books and illustration as tangible objects. Continue reading

Presentation of IN-R at the Independent Biennal Vmes/In Between in Sloveina May 8 -June 27 2024

Music from Siberia is an lllustration performance on identity, highlighting and erasure. It is based on historic research conducted 2018-2024 and discusses ethical challenges in artistic research, Hilde Kramer and Thanee Andino did the performance in front of an audience September 30th 2021 in Tårnsalen, Univeristy of Bergen.

How may the contemporary illustrator address topics of shared memory and representation of

the Holocaust? Plenery speaker Hilde Kramer at Transitus, the 12th Illustration Research symposum at Falmouth July 2022 https://www.illustrationresearch.org/booking-current-cfp:

October 10th - 17th 2021 Our partner institution Koc University in Turkey organized the symposium Materiality, Space and Embodiment info

Object as three-dimensional illustration: Lemons Prescribed by the Doctors derives from WPII B-O-O-K. It is the result of an investigation of semiophores carried out by Imi Maufe and Hilde Kramer. The handblown glass lemons are exhibited together with original prescriptions from Litzmannstadt ghetto 1941.

The WORK IN PROGRESS seminar took place 2in February / March at KMD, Bergen. Thoughts, suggestions, scketches, rejected ideas, tests and artistic works.

February 23rd 2023 KMD, Bergen: Work in Progress. Keynote presentations and presentations of field work, workshop material, sketches, archives etc and the project entering its final stage.

BLIND SPOTS: 13th ILLUSTRATION RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM NOVEMBER 3rd 2023

Panel 1: Illustration Practice Today Illustrations to be read with our Fingertips.

The category‚ ‘tactile books’ has developed significantly during the last decades as a result of the development of affordable technological inventions. The specific qualities of this genre opens the doors to a multisensory reflection-in-reading, through innovative ways of representing the world through designed storytelling, independently of capacity of vision. The shapes, materials and printing techniques are registered through the fingertips and further processed by our minds. Read more here https://sites.wustl.edu/blindspots/presentation-abstracts/

Return Ticket to Oslo is a sound narrative building on the biography of Ervin Løffler, a sculpturer who arrived to Momarken in 1947 among other Jewish displaced persons. Sound design by Thanee Andino. The project was exhibited the first time at Falstad during Symposium 3 June-July 2023 Read about the background of the project here

Object as three-dimensional illustration: War Pencil derives from WPII B-O-O-K. Wood, cardboard, paper, digital print, Hilde Kramer was author of this work, that discusses the concept of semiophores. Exhibited in the exhibition Work in Progress, KMD 23rd of February 2023, Falstad summer 2023 and at the illustration biennale in Ljubljana May-June 2024.

Using central topics in illustration such as 'character', SOUND AS ILLUSTRATION investigates WWII history from Momarken, Norway. Continue reading.

Thanks to our new partner, IDEGUI at University of Minho in Guimarães in Portugal, for organizing the conference Designing with Communities 23rd of November 2023. Looking forward to the planned publicztion! i#inclusion #diversity #decolonialization. #tactile_illustrations #haptic_design

ABOVE: Presenting WPI IF THIS IS A BEING to DEMBRA/KKS network at the workshop Estetiske læringsprosesser mot fordommer og utenforskap in Bodø 27th-28th November 2023.

Sound from the Quarry (2023) is a sound narrative by Hilde Kramer, Thanee Andino and Ruben Carvalho, building on the public memory of the Sovjet forced laborers that worked for Norwegian collaborators such as NSB during WWII. Sound work exploring the concept of character and national identity.

CONFERENCE JEWISH CULTURAL HERITAGE The conference is a celebration of education on diversity, and a platform for exchanging experiences, discussing new topics and interpreting the role of Jewish culture and history in contemporary Europe. See on Youtube here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=QXgVQjs0mIQ&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.polin.pl%2F&feature=emb_logo

PhD fellow Thilde Dalager researches how illustration can act on behalf of the underrepresented and disadvantaged social group such as people with Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD). Continue reading

June 29 2023 The final symposium of the artistic research project Illuminating the Non-Representable was called Illustration and the Non-Representable (IN-R) at the Falstad Centre, a museum, memorial, and human rights center in Ekne in Levanger. Continue reading

The Right Shade of Gray (2024) is a sound narrative by Hilde Kramer that explores truthfulness in grayscale images. This exposition belongs to the Sound as Illustration branch of the Illuminating project, where tillustratio of character and the relation between landcape and character is explored.

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