Skeylja

Improvisations on Oerol Festival

Skeylja is an international artist-in-residence of Dutch, Frisian, Icelandic, English musicians and video makers. Eleven artists spent a week in Iceland and brought the recorded material to Terschelling for 9 perfomances on the Oerol festival.

Still from the video for Skeylja | Image: 33 1/3
Project promotional image (video still) for the Skeylja project.
Photo: 33one3rd
Summary in image and sound of Skeylja

Investigative music and video sessions were done during a stay in Iceland. Inspiration came from the landscape, the atmosphere, the culture and the mutual cooperation. At the invitation of Oerol, we brought these experiences and encounters to Terschelling. Skeylja stems from Seeljocht, the artist-in-residence project of Popfabryk and Into The Great Wide Open 2011.

During these intimate improvisation sessions in the church of Hoorn, soundscapes, Frisian poetry and video projections took the audience into a mutual encounter between Iceland and Terschelling.

Skeylja is a self-invented word that is composed of the Frisian word for Terschelling 'Skylge' and the Icelandic word for an island: 'eyja'.

Skeylja was a follow-up project for the successful Seeljocht performance. Visual artists and musicians....

Special guest Tsjêbbe Hettinga performing with the Skeylja musicians.

Collaborative artists:

  • Borgar Magnason
  • Ingi Garðar Erlendsson
  • Kira Kira
  • Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson
  • The Alvaret Ensemble (Greg Haines, Sytze Pruiksma, Jan Kleefstra, Romke Kleefstra)
  • 33 1/3 Collective (Douwe Dijkstra, Jules van Hulst, Coen Huisman)
  • Special Guest: Tsjêbbe Hettinga †
  • Production: Popfabryk (Harmen van der Hoek & Peter Boorsma)