Skeylja was an international artist-in-residence programme focussed on meetings between Dutch, Frisian, Icelandic and English musicians and visual artists. Eleven artists spend one week on Iceland and brought the recorded material to the Dutch island of Terschelling. A dialogue took place through improvisation sessions in which collective audio and visual landscapes arose. This project is the follow-up of 'Seeljocht'.

Skeylja was performed 8 times on the 2012 Oerol Festival on Terschelling.

Participating musicians, sound- and video artists:
Borgar Magnason
Kira Kira
Eiríkur Orri Ólafsson
Ingi Garðar Erlendsson
The Alvaret Ensemble: Greg Haines, Sytze Pruiksma, Jan Kleefstra, Romke Kleefstra
33 ⅓ Collective

More info on: www.skeylja.nl

Skeylja - PRESS QUOTES

(...) Skeylja is magically exciting and enchantingly beautiful. (...)
JanPaulus van der Meulen and Peter Dijkstra - 3voor12 26th of June

'Skeylja': improvisations in music and images
(...) During the trip the men of 33 ⅓ made video footage of the landscape that they have used for short, sometimes humorous films that during the concert will be projected on a screen and on the walls of the church. The videos show landscapes, glaciers, waterfalls, fishing boats and people. The images are artfully manipulated, which creates a whole new perspective. "They have succeeded to catch Iceland in a different way than the clichéd videos you always see, for example at Icelandair," Kira Kira compliments the Dutch creators. "They have managed to make new compositions of landscapes."
The videos may be created in advance, during the concert; the makers are still able to vary. "We can not influence live video but we have a choice out of multiple movies," says Douwe Dijkstra. "Sometimes we hear a certain sound in the music, where we think: this movie will work. That’s than what we start. This way we won’t play all video clips every night. It's a big puzzle, where we use pieces from". It is likely that in the course of the week, also images of Terschelling are to become part of the puzzle. (...)
Ellen Stikkelbroek - Friesch Dagblad 20th of June

Emotionally touched by the abstract sounds of Skeylja
(...) Every night Skeylja is different because the method is: improvisation. That goes for the music, abstract and well, and just as good for the projected video-images. The members of the Dutch video collective 33 ⅓ can adjust the rhythm and intensity to suit the progress of the music. As the poet-aloud Jan Kleefstra does.
Kleeftsra, his guitar playing brother Romke, percussionist Sytze Pruiksma and the British pianist Greg Haines traveled a few months ago, with members of 33 ⅓, to Iceland to meet with another four local musicians. "I would rather had met in Barcelona," says bassist Borgar Magnason. "Winter in Iceland, is not that exiting."
But the visit was potent. They explored each other's capabilities and limits, while the men of 33 ⅓ where shooting beautiful images. Writing music was no part of it: improvisation is the keyword and starting point. (...)
Jacob Haagsma - Leeuwarder Courant part1 part2 20th of June