Syden is a collaboration between visual artist Hedvig Biong (NO), photographer Pablo Castilla (ES)
and musician/sound designer Niko Hafkenscheid (BE) on the theme of tourism and authenticity. Syden is a hybrid work using different medias for the creation of a space/ installation. The project exists on the boundaries of documentary photography, sound, space and sociology. The project investigates various ideas of the artificial versus the authentic, and is looking at the phenomenon of tourism as a cultural, existential and aesthetic phenomenon.
The title is taken from the existing idea of the Scandinavian word Syden (‘South’ in all Scandinavian languages), naming a created holiday-land with sun and beaches, a mental and physical space where ideal living conditions exists, and happiness and relaxation can be found. As tourism has the potential to be a mental space for freedom, where humans can explore themselves in a different environment, away from the constraints of daily-life, Syden is an Utopian land that functions as a parallel universe, ruled by own rules, routines and rhythms, displaying its own identity and aesthetics.
