09.10.2015

Sonic Ark - Lyden af Aarhus 2017

I 2017 er Aarhus som bekendt europæisk kulturhovedstad og sådan en skal naturligvis have lydkunst! Derfor blev der sidste år udskrevet en konkurrence, Lyden af Aarhus 2017. Blandt de 31 indsendte projekter fra hele verden har en fagjury udvalgt schweizeren Andres Bosshard med projektet Sonic Ark. Seismograf/DMT talte med Bosshard umiddelbart efter offentliggørelsen.

”Sonic Ark er et dramaturgisk koncept, der består at en række installationer, som flytter sig igennem det offentlige rum, og som helt bogstaveligt tager udgangspunkt i lyden af Aarhus”, fortæller Bosshard.

”Lydmæssigt sover Aarhus, men den er en sovende skønhed og jeg kan høre et stort potentiale i byens lyde, som bare trænger til at blive vækket. Jeg er ikke pessimist i forhold til byens støjende miljø. Med mine værker er jeg mere interesseret i at give bedre betingelser for kvaliteten i lytningen, for derigennem at kunne arbejde mod et bedre lydmiljø. Og her har Aarhus meget at byde på. Jeg har allerede været her to gange og gennem det næste år vil jeg i tæt samarbejde med byens borgere undersøge og lytte til forskellige steder i byen for at indsamle de lyde, som kommer til at indgå i værkerne. For eksempel arbejder et af værkerne med en kombination af mikroskopiske plantelyde, lyden af det århusianske sprog og den makroskopiske arkitektur i Botanisk Have. Her er borgerne vigtige det talte århusianske sprog er helt centralt.”

Der er klare lydøkologiske undertoner i projektet, men Bosshard mener ikke, at verden er ved at blive oversvømmet af dårlig lyd. Derimod mener han, at kan vi blive bedre til at lytte til de lyde, der allerede er her, og projekttitlens bibelske reference skal derfor heller ikke tages helt bogstaveligt.

”Jeg ser nærmere Arken som en metafor for at kunne lære at sætte pris på at sejle rundt, flyde ind og ud af eller drive gennem byens akustiske landskab. Det handler ikke så meget om, at vi skal beskyttes mod støjen, men jeg kunne godt tænke mig at folk kommer til at kende byen bedre, får lyst til at udforske dens lyde og måske endda kan lære at spille på den som et instrument,” forklarer han.

I sit arbejde sammenligner han også sig selv med en sømand, der er afhængig af vind og bølger for at kunne få skibet til at sejle – en tilgang der præger hans måde at interagere med lydmiljøet på.

”Hele byens lydbillede er på en måde med i værket og især lyden af menneskene i byen. På den måde handler det økologiske ikke kun om natur, men også om det sociale, om interaktion og kommunikation. Gennem øret kan vi opnå en betydelig større livskvalitet, og jeg håber at folk i Aarhus efter 2017 vil ’tro’ mere på deres egen lyd. Jeg er mest interesseret i at ændre bevidstheden om og stoltheden over hvilken lydkvalitet Aarhus har som by. Og jeg tror ikke der skal så meget til, for at vække den sovende skønhed”, slutter Andres Bosshard.

Det er Europæisk Kulturhovedstad Aarhus 2017 og de tre komponistforeninger Danske Jazz, Beat og Folkemusik Autorer (DJBFA), Dansk Komponist Forening (DKF) og Danske Populære Autorer (DPA), der har stået bag konkurrencen Lyden af Aarhus 2017. Foruden værkbestillingen, mortager Andres Bosshard en pris på 200.000 kr.

Andres Bosshard, f. 1955, bor og arbejder i Zürich i Schweiz. Han er uddannet kunstmaler, og begyndte tidligt at arbejde med eksperimenterende musik og teater. Han har udviklet roterende lydobjekter, interaktiv computermusik, programmer og lydinstallationer. Blandt andre “Sound Tower” ved Expo.02 ved Bieler-søen i Schweiz.

playlist

23.10

My name is C.Y. Frostholm – would you like to see my playlist?

»Music, to me, is true luxury and has always been an opening into a language without constricting categories, with room for both intimacy and impact. I don’t have a single tone in life, but I wish I did. When I work, music is a warm room I can barricade myself in, an ally that keeps me on track—not least in a time as destructive as the one we are in now. It can be a connection to difficult emotions, but also an excuse for a kitchen dance that makes me forget the world and myself. I actually constantly long for a new soundtrack (and more dancing), but if I’m completely honest, I’m also quite happy to take off the headphones and listen—not least to the non-human world’s differently calming compositions: all the other voices that we must include in the choir if there is to be human song and music in the future.«

C.Y. Frostholm (b. 1963) is a writer and visual artist who has published poetry and prose since 1985 and worked visually since 1991, including with photography, digital, and visual poetry. Together with composer Hans Sydow, he released the album Mellem stationerne back in 2000. Earlier this year, he took part in the exhibition Hybris! at Galleri Image in Aarhus, based on his latest book, Til den ven jeg aldrig har kendt (2023).

in brieflive

18.10

One Tone, Eight Breaths, and the Sound of Waiting

Elisa Kragerup, Louise Alenius, Vokalensemblet ÆTLA and others: »The Emperor of Portugalia«

Edison, Betty Nansen Teatret, 17.10–14.11

Henrik Marstal

Only one actor appears on stage in The Emperor of Portugalia – surrounded by eight singers. In Elisa Kragerup’s tightly choreographed staging, Louise Alenius’ a cappella composition becomes a physical experience where breath and movement merge into one. The acoustic soundscape interacts eerily quietly with the deafening, mechanical noises that arise when, for instance, beams of light are raised and lowered on stage. It feels as if the relentlessness of existence here briefly finds a sonic expression that captures Selma Lagerlöf’s intentions.

The sparse – or rather ascetic – soundscape, together with the humble peasant costumes, reflects the harsh, monotonous life of a Swedish village before the world turned modern. And the plot? A poor farmer worships his daughter, but when she leaves for Stockholm as a young woman and never returns, his years of yearning drive him, in a Don Quixote-like fashion, to believe himself emperor of the imaginary land of Portugalia, with his daughter naturally imagined as its ruler. The father’s longing borders on madness, while the daughter’s neglect or thoughtlessness ultimately turns against her: in a Godot-like manner, he waits and waits for her – just as she, after his drowning, waits for him, unable to find his body.

The piece is carried by an almost unbroken drone in the choir (produced through collective breathing) – a single sustained tone that, as an artistic device, illustrates how music in theatre can be so minimal that sound itself becomes the message, and the absence of a musical narrative becomes the point. »One tone played beautifully is enough,« Arvo Pärt once said. Except that here, the tone is sung – and in this work, his statement is affirmed in the most radical way: a maximal expression achieved through minimal means, realised with striking precision by Vokalensemblet ÆTLA.

English translation: Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek

in briefrelease

16.10

A Microphone In the Nervous System

IKI: »BODY«

IKI, 17.10

Therese Wiwe Vilmar

It sounds as if someone has placed a microphone directly inside the nervous system’s electrical impulses. The Nordic electroacoustic vocal ensemble IKI explores the boundaries between body and technology on their fifth, self-produced album BODY, where the five singers’ bodies merge into one large, organic rhythm box.

The tracks change form as the body breathes, dances, awakens, runs, wanders – in the imperative mood. The harmonically unison ripple of »Float« is countered by flickering modem-like sounds in »Regenerate«. Everything is framed by the recurring theme »Circuit«, which ultimately gathers the fragments into a single linguistic statement: »Are you gone when your body is not breathing?«

BODY demands concentration. IKI claims that all sounds on the album are created with the voice – a counterpoint to the electrically manipulated, a kind of reversed version of synthesizer sounds that imitate the human voice. It’s an incomprehensible mystery one keeps listening for: how can the voice produce the accordion-like sound on »Breath«, panned all the way to the left and slowly taking over the entire soundscape? Of course, it can’t do so on its own. The recording itself is an electronic mediation. The technological tools act as a microscope for vocal expression. It’s powerful because it asks about the transitions between human and machine, between life and afterlife. Yet the premise holds a paradox that never fully resolves.

English translation: Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek

playlist

10.10

Miy name is Bjarke Niemann – would you like to see my playlist?

»Music is everything that can only be described far more poorly with words.«

Bjarke Niemann is the lead singer, songwriter, and producer of the Danish band Spleen United. The group broke through with Godspeed Into The Mainstream in 2005 and has performed at, among other places, Roskilde Festival and the Copenhagen Opera House. Bjarke Niemann has also composed and developed music for TV and video games – including the international game series Hitman – and has produced albums with artists such as Soleima, Statisk, Afskum, and Hugorm.

playlist

06.10

My name is Motis Necrojam – would you like to see my playlist?

»Music is the pursuit of original failure...«

Motis Necrojam is the singer and collager with the Noseflutes and The Clicking Stick, a pair of combos from the old English Birmingham times, adorned with new-times dedication to derailment, approved by Sir John Peel, via their four live sessions for his mighty BBC Radio programme, occasional treaders of the boards, musicians with alias obsessions. One thing Necrojam has is a digit on the diminishing pulse.