Skårild is a graduate of the academy of the arts in Trondheim and Düsseldorf.

 

He has worked with installations and objects in addition to videos and short films.

 

Skårild’s work is often conceptual in nature. His different works often make use of entirely opposite types of material and techniques, but some underlying themes have typically been present in their production:  

 

Designs depicting time, with circular developments in clear conflict with linear ones.

Spatial objects, which with an almost intrusive physical presence visualise the ‘now’ in a way reminiscent of Zen Buddhism.

 

The projects have on the other hand also had a partially entertaining surface, the humour and physical presence contrasting the serious existentialist core.

 

In terms of form, the works are often rather strict and minimalist, but with a far more evocative “temperature”.

 

His various works have been shown at exhibitions in Norway and Europe.

 

Skårild has received a number of awards for the short movies “Alt som ingenting” and “Alt i alt”, including the Amanda Prize and “Gullstolen” at the short-film-festival in Grimstad and a nomination for the European Film Awards in the short film category.

 

He is currently on a state scholarship for visual artists.

 

 

 

Smidt is a graduate of the University of Trondheim, with music as his major.

 

He has written stage music for the Circa Theatre, Petrusjka Theatre, Trøndelag Theatre, Espen Dekko, the St.Olavs Festival and the Nidaros Cathedral; all in all 13 productions. He has also written chamber music and played and arranged music in the band “Dadafon” from 1995 to 2002.

 

Smidt’s music is inspired by a number of genres within art music, popular music and folk music. The musical content can thus be lush, burlesque, or even poetic, while the overall form is often minimalist.

 

Smidt is interested in soundscapes, or musical “colours”, where the “mixture of colours” used is typically a combination of purely acoustic/vocal sounds and material sounds (e.g. metal, machines, paper etc.). As a drummer, he often employs unconventional sounds in his rhythmic compositions. He is also experimenting with the balance between the immediately transmittable and the more distant and resistant, for instance within composition.

 

Prizes, nominations and scholarships include

 

•Establishment-scholarship, “Statens Stipend for Kunstnere”

•Trondheim’s Cultural scholarship (2002).

•Winner of the “Alarmpris” with Dadafon for best jazz album (2003).

•Nominated for the “Spellemannspris” with Dadafon (2003).

•Ten-month scholarship from the Norwegian Research Council for research of rhythms (1994-1995).

 

As a musician he has performed on eight albums, and has performed at festivals, tours and on radio and TV in Norway and Europe.