Alban Karsten

Vem kan segla, wa kin sile is a scene from the film The Visitor, which Alban Karsten worked on during his residency at Kunsthuis SYB. The premise was to work with oral histories of the village, such as regional myths, village gossip and local chronicles. To access the village’s collective memory, he temporarily joined two Beetsterzwaag choirs. Alban began his search for people willing to participate in his film The Visitor, a study about friendship, isolation and unwanted perceptions in a small community. Meanwhile, choirs became an increasingly essential part of his artistic process. Providing him with structure, the choirs helped him rediscover singing as part of his artistic practice; as a performative tool and a method of connecting with a community. With the choir MNNZNGVRNGNG, Alban performs an old Swedish lament (Vem kan segla) for a lost friend, partially translated into Frisian by two of the choir members.

Alban Karsten is an artist and educator living and working in Amsterdam. He received his MA from Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam. Prior to that, he completed his BA at Academie Minerva, Groningen. His work has been exhibited, amongst others, at W139, Amsterdam, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, and De Appel, Amsterdam.