KNOT (pronounced not)
installed composition, Kubbur at LHÍ, Reykjavík 2015
I am knot thinking
I am drawing the biggest untied knot of the world on a 57 m long and 3.8 cm wide, white paper roll with a black 0.1 mm fine liner. The paper roll is fixed with a pink ribbon band to a music stand in about 1 m height. From there it is unwound, leading over a table where I am drawing a rope on it by repeating an S-bend again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and and again and and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and and again. It leads down to a wooden knitting needle which is attached to the table right underneath the desktop. With the needle I am coiling up the paper roll.
– Anne the Great
The action of tying knots is a well established practice within many fields, whether it is to hold a steady course when sailing, to prevent a perilous fall into the abyss, or simply to keep one’s shoelaces tied: knots are everywhere around us. This exhibition examines the knot and works with the idea of how it can be untied.
A knot can be seen as a metaphor for entangled thoughts, problems, difficult situations, and a confused state of mind. In this exhibition, ‘Knot (pronounced not)’, the audience is given a chance to see a subtle charm in that which causes troubles, as well as appreciating the heavy overload that an emotional knot can involve, when tied and thoroughly entangled. This may open up a new way at looking at knots—a more simple way, which may assist in the process of solving them. One of the many methods that can be used to solve a knot is to visualise the transformation of a tangled knot into a untangled one. This has a bearing on mathematical ‘Knot Theory,’ as well as on the Ancient Greek legend of the Gordian Knot. These two methods aim for the same goal but with very different approaches towards the task. ‘Knot Theory’ involves solving a knot by simplifying it, undoing it step by step. In the legend about the Gordian Knot, which was supposed to be a knot impossible to disentangle and has often been used as a metaphor for an intractable problem, Alexander the Great solves it easily by cheating—by cutting the Gordian Knot.
This exhibition proposes yet another way of untying knots, consisting of a drawing of ‘the biggest untied knot of the world:’ a long and meticulous drawing of a rope. The knot cannot be seen; you are only told that it was there before but that now it has been untied. This leads to the emphasis on the pronunciation of the word ‘knot’, which is the title of the exhibition: Knot (pronounced not). This alludes to a knot that is not so ‘pronounced’—it is there but, at the same time, it is (k)not. As soon as one is aware of the similarity in the ways the words sound, one starts to entangle them and twist one’s tongue into a knot. The contraction of ‘knot’ into the negative ‘not’ is an interesting linguistic game that alludes to the visual work that displays the untied knot, where the unknotted rope becomes a metaphor for the ‘lifeline’ we are constantly drawing.
– Ásta Friðriksdóttir
Radio interview with Gígja Sara Björnsson, Radio Iceland
