The moon is an eye is a pond and so on and so forth hinges on an abstract, otherworldly concept that is twofold. In one sense, the piece carries the idea of stepping into an elevator and travelling to a new floor, a new space, a new world, new dimensions even.
Gísladóttir imagines these different environments to be polarised and stark, like a world of wrath and a garden of the sacred. In another sense, the piece presents the idea of a reflection between these different locales and beings, and how these entities may be perceived as one: the moon may shine down, reflecting from a pond to an eye. The eye may appear as a pond, appearing as a moon. Thus, the reflection of moonlight may, in some way, be reflected back to the moon, and so on, and so forth.
In a feature article for HCMF// Tim Rutherford-Johnson describes The moon is an eye is a pond and so on and so forth as inverting the shape of Gísladóttir's VÍDDIR (2020): where that work funnelled everything downward and inward, as if into a black hole, to be torn apart into its constituent atoms, The moon … rises, along connecting beams of light.
Read the feature article here.
The work expands upon Gísladóttir's growing relationship with co-commissioners Riot Ensemble and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival following her piece Animals of your pasture, which was premiered by Riot Ensemble at HCMF 2021 and shortlisted for The Royal Philharmonic Society Awards.
Find more information about the performance here.