CRATAEGI
In Danish: Hvidtjørnens Hvidvinge. A white butterfly with a wingspan of 50-65 mm. The body is entirely black, the wings are white with strongly marked dark veins
An audiovisual symbiotic work by Nes Lerpa and Ejnar Kanding featuring percussionist David Hildebrandt and interactive video by photographer Kim Dang Trong.
CRATAEGI is in eight movements (51 minutes) with Danish, Italian, German, and English titles:
Hvidtjørnens Hvidvinge (White Hawthorn’s White Wing)
• Verderame (Copper Green)
• Black Obsidian
• Amber Glow
• Antracitgrå (Anthracite Grey)
• Blauen Seelenfrieden (Azure Serenity)
• Fuoco Rosso (Fire Red)
• Zinnoberfeuer (Cinnabar Blaze)
Nes Lerpa and Ejnar Kanding have collaborated since 2009 on a series of audiovisual projects performed in New York, Italy, Bulgaria, Switzerland, and Denmark. The vision for a joint Crataegi work emerged in 2019. In 2023, the music will be completed and recorded, and the video component will be finalized in early 2024.
The work is an aesthetic contemplation of Crataegi:
• It is transparent, one can see right through it.
• Depth in time and expression.
• It mirrors itself.
• The thing in itself (Ding an sich; Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer).
• Strong in its fragility.
• Powerful in its powerlessness.
Nes Lerpa: The composition of the painting is more important than ever. Music – Photography – The Word are crucial inspirations in the final expression of the painting.
Ejnar Kanding: In the music, one can hear uniquely colorful tones, where electronic and acoustic sounds merge into complex textures, corporeal energy, and delicate simplicity.
Nes Lerpa on Hvidtjørnens Hvidvinge (2020):
Flying pattern
Slicing through air
Is there and is not
Endless venation
All scales may wear away-flight not diminished-only becomes more air
Several can overlap and become more one
The butterfly, WITHOUT signs or markings, just being
Underside and topside the same – unusual for a daytime butterfly.