Installation with bordeaux satin curtain covering the walls of an entire room with lowered ceiling, chrystal
chandeliers hanging very low, thre-way family tree - portraits printed on the curtain, "My Great Grandfather"
displayed on monitor w. headphones, "New Songbooks" as a videoprojection with sound, 8 uniforms
in a holder, 8 notestands w. partituresin an "orchestral setting", songbooks people could take with them.
Performance with 8 singers performing the partiture.

The lowered ceiling and the bordeaux curtain gives a dense, theatrical atmosphere, together with the "props"
such as the uniforms and the chandeliers. During the performance, the performers walk into the installation in
their normal clothes, put on the uniforms and the barrets and take the partitures on the notestands. After the per-
formance, they hang up the uniforms again and leave.

"Songs are bearers of national identity, and while the nation's glory is proclaimed in the national anthem, it is in
traditional ballads, with origins in the common culture of ordinary people, that the soul of the nation is to be found.
This was the notion of national identity constructed by a group of nineteenth century composers - Carl Nielsen, a
farmer's son, the most prominent among them - who composed music that defined Danish culture. And it was this
construct that gave Jette Hye Jin Mortensen her cue for the installation Song of My Great Grandfather which com-
prises, in addition to two video works, a songbook, some uniforms and music - all take-offs or fake versions of original
national symbols.

Hye Jin Mortensen was born in South Korea and adopted by Danish parents. In the mockumentary My Great Grand-
father (2005) she articulates her claim to be related to the composer Carl Nielsen. And in bringing her personal
perspective to bear, she spotlights various constructs of national culture and Danishness, as well as identity in general.
So although Carl Nielsen was not Hye Jin Mortensen's great-grandfather, the conceit is an interesting one, inasmuch as
there is a sense in which all Danes are Carl Nielsen's grandchildren. We are identified as Danes, thereby subscribing to a
Danishness that he played a key role in defining. At the same time, however, none of us today fits this outdated cultural
definition. Increasingly, we define our identities according to our own criteria. Hye Jin Mortensen's identity as an adopted
child complicates the identity issue further. For while in all other respects, she resembles the ethnic Danes she lives among,
she stands out from them in being somewhat physically different in appearance. Biological affinity may be of secondary
importance to Hye Jin Mortensen, but for others it may be the first thing they notice about her.

By developing this conceit, Hye Jin Mortensen points to the fact that phenomena
such as identity and belonging are essentially predicated on notions of resemblance and sameness, with their implicit
potential for segregation and racism. Hye Jin Mortensen explores these mechanisms, finding ways to expose their
fictionality by constructing her own tales, fictions and lies."

Text by Niels Henriksen