Whyte&Zettergren by Whyte&Zettergren

Whyte&Zettergren is an artistic duo comprising Jamaican dancer Olando Whyte and Swedish visual artist Rut Karin Zettergren. Their collaboration, initiated in 2018 with the project, Herring, Iron, Gunpowder, Humans & Sugar (HIGHS). With the project they visit locations historically linked to the triangular trade, the economic system underpinning the transatlantic slave trade. At these historical sites, Whyte&Zettergren perform live acts with choreography, storytelling, and ceremonial actions. In the acts they use objects crafted from materials extracted, manufactured, or exported from these locations. In March 2022, the duo launched a space-traveling program for healing Historical Spiritual Vibrations outside a saltfish factory in Reykjavik. A resistance act inspired by Afrofuturism, dub, and speculative fiction, envisioning space as a realm of freedom. This initiative originated from their participation in the collaborative artistic research project ÓNÆM (2020-2022), organized by Bryndís Björnsdóttir. During the project, they explored colonial interlinks between the North and the Caribbean, first focusing on food, and then moving in to research the relationship between plans for new space exploration and colonization, along with their connections to legacies stemming from the Enlightenment. The duo's artistic works constitute an ongoing investigation into the historical memory held by a place, material, and body. Their process visualizes the entanglement between geographically distant locations, objects, cultures, and times. Through their creative processes, they seek potential methods for healing historical trauma and strive to craft rites that envision possible futures. Whyte&Zettergren is currently working on their space program along with a video artwork on historical trauma and the collaborative research project Contingency Sample with Bryndís Björnsdóttir that explore extractivism in the era of the new space age. Their works have previously been performed and presented at various significant venues, including the Great House of the sugar plantation Stokes Hall, Fd Molyne’s Sugar Estate, Fort Charles in Port Royal Harbor (JA), Klippan harbor in collaboration with Tredje Våningen, Gammelbo Ironworks, Malongen - The Nordic Art Association (NKF), TEGEN2, Galleri Thomassen, Galleri Gerlesborg (SE), and the Living Art Museum in Reykjavik (IS)

History

Performance objects

Herring, Iron, Gunpowder, Humans & Sugar investigate how the triangle trade, the economic system underpinning the transatlantic slave, still influences contemporary economic and cultural structures. With the project they visit locations historically linked to the triangular trade. At these historical sites, the artist duo Whyte&Zettergren perform live acts with choreography, storytelling, and ceremonial actions. In the acts they use objects crafted from materials extracted, manufactured, or exported from these locations.

Activating the sites and materials through their process, Whyte & Zettergren aim to find artistic methods for addressing historical trauma. Their goal is to spark discussions about memory, heritage, and responsibility.

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