Common reader Nell Toemen had a real “Woolf-week” in January by first traveling to Oslo, Norway, to visit the opening of Ane Thon Knutsen’s PhD. Exhibition, “The Mark on the Wall, and then traveling to London for Virginia Woolf’s Birthday Lecture by Stuart Clarke.
She shared her impression of Ane’s exhibit with Blogging Woolf. We are happy to include it as follows:
Nell’s first-hand impression of Ane’s exhibit
First there was some of her ‘Woolf-work’ in the Oslo National Academy of the Arts reflecting process, research, previous work and documentation). That same evening there was the official opening of the major installation of “The Mark on the Wall” in Kunstnernes Hus, an art institution in the centre of Oslo.
It was a surprise, this major installation, the result of Ane’s enormous work of typesetting and printing during last autumn as one could see on her website. It was really impressive: entering the room and wherever you looked words, words, punctuation marks and words.
Woolf’s first publication in Hogarth Press, the complete short story “The Mark on the Wall” handprinted on I don’t know how many papers, white and off-white, neatly arranged so as to fill all the walls. If you would walk the room in eleven rounds you would be able to read the whole story. Reading it this way is an absolutely different experience than reading the story in a book.
It was worth the journey.
Nell’s photos
Below are the photos Nell sent Blogging Woolf to help readers get a better idea of the installation’s impact.
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You are so welcome. We are grateful to Nell Toemen for providing the report and the photos.
Thanks so much for this report from afar. The photos are marvelous!