Knut Olaf Sunde – Himdalen and Mirnyi

As  composer, Knut Olaf Sunde often works with site-specific music; music that yields the most meaning when listened to in the spaces it is designed for. In this sense, the music is related to site-specific visual art and the broader category concept art.  Sunde has been working in this fashion for years, and we remember the work  Molladalen from a few years back, and  the resent Comfort Music. All realized in collaboration with NOTAM staff.

The works Himdalen and Mirnyi will be shown as installations in November, and here are short introductions:

 

Himdalen

November 24. to 25., 2018

Himdalen in Akershus

Time: TBA

Tickets: 400/300

The entire evening and night outdoors in a concert installation at several locations in the terrain.

Himdalen is a valley east of  Øyeren in Akershus, and is the location of the largest storage facility of nuclear waste in Norway –  KLDRA Himdalen.

The place and the function of waste storage with a long halving-time augments the crucial significance of communication – the longer time a situation lasts, the more difficult it is to understand the context as it hvelves over time. Meaning does not emerge in information alone, but is interpreted in contexts crucial for how we experience situations, cultures civilizations, out environment and in general the world around us.

Music is a code that hinges on decoding in context to give meaning. The sense of place, the physical presence and maneuvering in the landscape around the storage facility is essential in grasping the entire image that the puzzle consists of.  The audience must explore the area – and tent and appropriate clothing for the season is important.

Participants: Aksiom ensemble and NOTAM.

More detail info on where to meet up, and the necessary equipment will be announced at a date closer to the event.<hr>

Mirnyj

November 27.,2018

Jakob Church, Oslo

Time: TBA

Tickets: 250/200

Four hour long multichannel immersive audiovisual work with horizontal projection above a horizontal audience.

Mirnyj is located in Siberia in Russia, and is entirely dependent on the diamonds in the ground. Within city bounds, there is an enormous open mine – the second greatest man-made hole in the ground in the world. 

In order to understand something, we need to change our perspective.  We need to step into the unfamiliar. This work attempts to create a feeling of being there, and to create the atmosphere of this unfamiliar place. It forms an essayistic narrative where Russia serves as a metaphor for thought patterns, and the open mine as a negative print of the development of both USSR and Russia.

The immersive sound plays together with visual imagery, where prolonged situations and moments creates a monotony with abundant space with slow processes.

The soundscape and vide are based on recordings made in Russia, plus satellite images and monochrome flicker.  Blinking  lights will be used during the performance, and might cause discomfort for some.