BABEL - Exhibitions
Machine Membranes – Part Two
Duration
PERFORMANCE: Machine Membranes – Part Two
March 05 at 19:00 (ca. 30 min). Free entrance.
Machine Membranes is the collaborative project of artists Nayara Leite and Marie Nerland, and musician/composer Mari Kvien Brunvoll. It explores how, as humans experience the world, we are tracked by sensors and algorithms, and increasingly surrounded by machines, which gradually become part of us. The work originates in a shared interest in science fiction and in the dystopian, yet alluring, aspects of technological development.
This artistic collaboration began three years ago and its first phase culminated in a performance shown in 2023 at Lydgalleriet and the second phase in a performance and exhibition shown in 2025/2026 at Lydgalleriet.
In Part Two of this project the artists investigate loneliness in the context of the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence. What happens when AI reproduces human voices and sounds to resemble human beings?
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Marie Nerland is an artist and curator based in Trondheim. In her artistic practice she is working with performance, video, installation and textbased works. Often, her projects are in collaboration with other artists. Recent projects have been at Lydgalleriet, Surnadal Bilag, Hordaland kunstsenter and Oppland kunstsenter. She is part of the long-term project Paviljong Våtmark by Østensjøvannet in Oslo with a group of artists.
Mari Kvien Brunvoll is a composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Bergen. She studied improvised music at the Griegakademiet and has released tirtheen albums with various projects, including as a solo artist, with the band Building Instrument, and in a duo with Stein Urheim.
Brunvoll has toured regularly in Norway and Europe since 2008 and has received international attention for her solo project, in which she combines voice and electronics. She also works across artistic disciplines with dance, theatre, film, and sound installations.
Nayara Leite is a Brazilian artist and writer based in Bergen, Norway. Her practice spans research, archives, and storytelling, focusing on LGBTQ+ experiences in Brazil, Norway, and beyond.
Working across text, performance, film, photography, and installation, she draws on personal narratives, political discourse, and archival material to portray complex realities shaped by migration, identity, and resistance. Collaboration is an essential part of her practice, and she is actively involved in artist duos and collective projects. Leite is at a residency at LKV in March.
Machine Membranes – Part Two is supported by Bergen City Council, Billedkunstnernes Vederlagsfond (BKV) and Norsk Komponistforening. Parts of the material were developed at the Live Studio at Bergen Kunsthall in 2024.
