Tord Torpe
Kunst- og designhøgskolen i Bergen (KHiB)
HERE – or the art of searching for the wonderful flow
What role can a place play in creative
activity?
Tord Torpe’s Here – or the art of searching
for the wonderful flow started with the artist’s
desire to use a physically limited space
as a point of departure in creating a visual
story. The theoretical investigations that followed
unfolded between two dimensions:
place and visual storytelling.
Torpe found that both dimensions open
possibilities for the sense of self to be lost
and for a sense of meaning to be found in
its stead. Torpe’s search for meaning led
him to try to understand why he was driven
to engage in creative activity. What are
the mechanisms behind it? What role can
place take on to engender playful creative
activity?
The answers to such difficult questions are
seldom short and unambiguous. Ultimately,
Torpe found that a ‘sense of flow’ is vital
in order for something to be perceived as
meaningful. A crucial element in finding flow
is the ability to concentrate, an ability that,
sadly, appears to be greatly underestimated
in modern times. In many ways, Torpe
became his own lab rat throughout the
master’s process, the goal of which was
not to find the piece of cheese, but to find
the meaningful flow.
Torpe’s product at the end of this maze is
an animated short film based on the short
story Her (Here) by Norwegian author Frode
Grytten. Here very much opened up the
possibility for Torpe to lose himself both in
visual storytelling and in a place – the city
of Bergen.
