Living in Norway
The twins Eli and Trill,
Transparent, delicate and strong.

When you remove the sleeve, you'll see soft, vibrant layers of paper. The main body is made of sturdy, transparent paper, and each page is folded and then unfolded to the top, creating an elaborate binding. The authors are twin sisters with speech development disorders who live in western Norway. Their close relationship and their relationship with the outside world are lightly expressed through distorted handwritten letters and drawings. Each book has a different cover image.

The original was created by Norwegian video artist Anne Tveit Knudsen.Anne Tveit KnutsenIt was published in a limited edition of 500 copies as a book version of the documentary film of the same name by TVILINGSONG (TVILINGSONG), which follows the lives of Eli and Trill, a pair of intellectually disabled twins born in the fjords of western Norway.

Ann's intention was to explore the twins' unique way of communicating with each other and their symbiotic relationship with the world around them through this documentary. However, during the filming, Trill unfortunately fell ill and passed away. Alone for the first time in her life, Eli was confused and suddenly faced with a strange world, and she became engrossed in drawing. Since childhood, Eli loved to draw abstract blocks of color and lines with colored pencils. After losing Trill, her drawings occasionally showed letter-like brushstrokes, and the layering of colored pencils created mysterious and beautiful colors. The book records brief conversations between the twins during filming, but after Trill's death, the book is filled with Eli's monologue, filled with the mystery of death and confusion about the future.

Ang, a video artist, also participated in the production of this book by illustrating the original Chinese text. In order to understand how the author's twins are connected to the real world while diverging from the meaning of reality, he wrote his own Chinese translations, which he himself could not understand, by hand, imitating what he saw. This action should be evaluated as an approach that goes a step further than simply "getting close" to the author.

The binding design, which combines tranquility and dynamism, was jointly created by Chinese designer Pan Yanrong and Yi Lei, the planner's wife. All the visuals in the book are precise prints of Eli's original drawings, and the beautiful colors are sure to draw you in. This book, which is a video in one book, gives you a sense of dynamism, as if Eli's strokes were moving in your hands. Except for the first and last pages, all the main text pages are foldable and the reader can unfold them, and the design represents the reader's movements, such as the fingertips unfolding the pages and the gaze following the illustrations that spread across the screen. The reason they chose synthetic washi paper for the main text is because the characteristics of the paper are similar to the psychological characteristics of twins. Although it is thin and transparent, it is very strong and does not tear easily, just like twins, says planner Ben (Yu Men Hou) with a smile.

This book is a collection of images that gives the viewer a sense of dynamism, as if Eli's strokes were moving in his hands. Some say that there is nothing in this world that cannot be made into a book, even a house or a dish of food.

Here I would like to quote the historian Tessa Mori Suzuki.

-

The days up until now
I'm sure the days to come will be

Not to forget
Something to remember

Not for the sake of desire
To understand

Not for the record
To trust

-

I like to think that videos, photographs, paintings, and books are all methods of burning the incomprehensible "now" into the world.
It's something you want to always have burned into your mind, to understand, to trust.

The twins' daily lives are contained in this one book.

Northing

Northing is a non-profit contemporary art center established in Bergen, Norway by Shanghai-born Chinese architect Ben (Yuwenhou) and Chinese designer Yi Lei (Yilei), with an emphasis on promoting cultural exchange between Norway and East Asia. Northing's cross-border cultural space, "Northing Space," is engaged in cultural exchange activities related to publishing, design, art, and more.
https://www.northing.no/