This project consists of the following parts: 

The Death of the Chemist, film, by Anna Ulrikke Andersen (2016), HDV, 13:00. Language: Norwegian. Subtitles: English.  

The Death of the Chemist, installation, Gamle Kjemi, Gløshaugen, NTNU, 23 – 26 May 2016. 

The Death of the Chemist, lecture, Kunstarken Trondheim Academy of Fine Arts/NTNU, 23 May 2016. 

Christian Norberg-Schulz never met his father, who died falling through a window months before the birth of his child. This film, installation and lecture, engage with the story about Norberg-Schulz’s father’s death when he was working as a chemist at the Norwegian Technical University in Trondheim.  90 years after the tragic accident, I visit the building with caretakers Stig Pallesen and Raymond Sterten. Shot with a Blackmagic Cinema Camera, the footage is of the building Gamle Kjemi, NTNU (1910), played back in 50% of normal speed. The sound, recorded with two wireless Philips Radio-Microphones connected to a Zoom H4n Recorder, captures the conversation between myself and the caretakers exploring the buidlings and archival material. Sound and image is separated throughout the film.

An integral part of my PhD thesis, this ‘fenestral essay film’ and the installation are example of how I engage with sites, histories and archives through filmmaking, as I try to find the exact location where a chemist died, falling through a window, in 1926. I later return to the building with a finished film and install the film in the space where I believe the accident took place. With the installation, I brought film into architecture, making an impact on the building and the people who use the building on a daily basis. 

The installation took place at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Trondheim, 23 – 26 May 2016. The film was screened as part of a lecture I gave at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Arts / Kunstarken 23 May 2016.

The project is realised with the kind support of:
Stenseth Grimsrud Arkitekter AS
The Norwegian Institute in Rome
The Municipality of Trondheim
The Bartlett Doctoral Reserach Project Fund

In collaboration with Kunstakademiet Trondheim/NTNU.

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