How can people’s attitudes towards nature and the environment be challenged using music from the sea in a space created for contemplation and reflection?
What did you want to explore?
I wanted to explore how I could combine music and architecture in a single project. I wanted to explore how sounds affect us and how we can increase our awareness of the sounds surrounding us.
What has inspired you?
Nature has been a key factor in this project. I am really fascinated by the forces of nature and I wanted to make active use of them in my project. I have also taken a lot of inspiration from sound sculptures and architecture that focuses more on the auditory than the visual aspect, for example the Sea Organ of Zadar – which is a beautiful instrument hidden in the architecture descending down into the sea. Recently I have also taken inspiration from modern churches and the way they use space, lines, light and sound.
How have you chosen to solve this task?
The project has always been very experimental. It started out as a sculptural project and has developed into an experience out of the ordinary. My point of departure is the wave power station at Toftestallen in Øygarden municipality, specifically the ruins of the old power plant. The space will be filled with music played by the ocean, which will come from a sea organ placed in the water a short distance offshore. I have worked actively to bring natural light into the space, and this problem was solved by making slits in the walls, inspired by modern church architecture. There is a rhythm to the slits that let in the light, a composition that has become a kind of fragmented landscape painting that counterbalances the sound in the space.
Why has this been important to you?
Music and architecture have always been important to me, and this was my opportunity to combine the two. Because of my strong passion for the environment and how we treat nature, particularly the oceans, it has been important for me to use this project to raise awareness of pollution and its potential consequences. I am also interested in history, and I have found it exciting to be able to show an untold part of the story of wave power stations and pay tribute to the people who conducted research on and were willing to invest in renewable energy as early as the 1970s and 1980s.