Flyndre
The sound installation Flyndre (Flounder) was made by composer, musician and programmer Øyvind Brandtsegg. The sound art work is built upon an existing sculture (Flyndre) by the artist Nils Aas. The sculpture is situated at the small village Straumen in Inderøy. The process with the work was started in 2003 while Nils still was alive, and he expressed a positive interest for the sound art work by be made in connection to his sculpture. He meant that the sound would add new dimensions to the sculpture and stated - I would very much like to hear the Flounder sing.
The installation opened in September 2006 - as of 2023 it is still running, planned to run until 2026.
At www.flyndresang.no (and here) you can follow the sonic evolution of the work over the years. Initially, the sound work was scheduled to be active from 2006 to 2016, but has been proølonged for another 10 years by popular request. The live online audio stream can be found in two versions - the authentic sound played on the sculpture, and a direct line stream from the composition program. The sound is generated live and responds to environmental data (light, temperature, tidal water, moon phases, seasons) and also to time and date variables. In this way, the music reflects changes in the natural surroundings around the sculpture. The sonic activity is most dense around full moon, and if it is a Saturday and the sun appears through the clouds - it will be pretty hectic. At night (local time) it will be less active - sometimes just single sonic entities several seconds apart. Sound is emitted by means of a special loudspeaker technique - a vibrating transducer that transfer audio as vibrations to the metallic body of the sculpture.
Audio stream from the sculpture at Inderøy
Audio stream from the composition program
Soundscape Studios has been an active partner in the development of sensor and transducer technology in the project. The artistic concept was refined in collaboration with both Kulturbyrået Mesén and Soundscape Studios. Sensor data and audio signal are streamed between Inderøy and Trondheim, where the composition computer program resides on a server mainframe at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Midgard Medialab and ITEA NTNU are collaborating partners on the technical production and the maintenance of server mainframes. The internet connection to the sculpture is provided by NTE Bredbånd. Students at NTNY / Experts in Team has contributed to development and testing of net-based audio transfer technologies. Students from NTNU Department of Computer Science has contributed by refining the composition program architecture. Students from NTNU Acoustics hsa contributed with development of software for audio processing, specifically a sound particle generator. This sound generator can be heard for example in sounds similar to birdsong and other granular tectures in the composition.
Credits:
Øyvind Brandtsegg: composer, programming, artistic concept
Soundscape Studios: technical producer
Kulturbyrået Mesén: producer
Collaborators:
Nils Aas Kunstverksted
Midgaard Medialab
Nord-Trøndelag Elektrisitetsverk
Sjøkartverket
Special thanks to:
Christine Reintz, Atle Aas, Per Vatn, Einar Johan Jakobsen, Marcus Edvardsen, Sigurd Saue, Letizia Jaccheri, students from NTNU Computer Science and NTNU Acoustics, Sjøkartverket, Tore Hagen, Gunnar Tufte, Bent Sæther, Kurt Sandaunet, Ylva og Tyra Øyen Brandtsegg, Inger Jorid Brandtsegg, Kulturbyrået Mesén, Erle Stenberg.
Supported by:
Inderøy Kommune, Nord-Trøndelag fylkeskommune, Norsk Kulturråd, Fond for lyd og bilde, Norsk Musikkfond, NOPA, Komponistenes Vederlagsfond, and Soundscape Studios.
Tags: soundart, music, selected