Pic: Tørskind Grusgrav © Vejle Kunstmuseum
For the exhibition "The Sound of Tørskind - Narrating the Void" the artists Ragnhild May (DK), Claus Haxholm (DK), Astrid Øster Mortensen (DK/SE), Raphael Radna (US) and Louise Vind Nielsen (DK/DE) have composed new sound works for the nine sub-sculptures of "Tørskind Grusgrav".
"Tørskind Grusgrav" (Gravel pit of Tørskind) is Denmark's largest landscape sculpture. It was created in the years from 1986 to 1991 through a collaboration between the Danish sculptor Robert Jacobsen and the French landscape artist Jean Clareboudt.
"Akkumulator"
@Tørskind Grusgrav / Vejle Kunstmuseum
Sound piece, 5:45 min
For this new piece Louise Vind Nielsen invited children, at the brink of adulthood, to sing a rising tone - from the deepest tone to the highest tone possible. Taken her inspiration in the psychoacoustic phenomenon the Shepard tone - a sonic illusion that, to the human ear, is perceived as a perpetually rising or falling tone, without actually leaving the audible spectrum - she creates a composition based on the recordings. The voices are very different, some are hesitant, some are performing self confidence, while others crack, portraying a vulnerable moment of transformation. The sound piece is acting as an "accumulator" gathering energy for a magnificent jump into an enormous, undefined space.
The piece was created in collaboration with pupils from the 5th grade at Søndermarksskolen in Vejle.
@Tørskind Grusgrav / Vejle Kunstmuseum
Sound piece, 6:51 min
Dressed as an alien, Louise Vind Nielsen asked 5th-graders from Vejle what they would say if they would suddenly encounter a real alien. These recordings form the basis of this new sound work and interpretation of the sculpture "Fremspring" (translates: forward jump). You hear ultrasound recordings of the artist's own body, heard as a noisy hiss in the background. Like an sonic search for life you hear a pulse partially breaking through, forming fragments of a beat.
The Danish artist Robert Jacobsen has previously described Tørskind Grusgrav as a kind of landing platform for creatures from outer space. In this spirit, Louises sound work attempts to make contact with what is yet unknown.
"Go back to your homeland!" ... rrrrrrhhzzzz ... "We come in peace"
"Welcome to Earth" ... zzzzzzzz ...
... "Welcome to Earth, here you’ll be tortured" .... “Good morning!”
Both works were created in collaboration with pupils from the 5th grade at Søndermarksskolen in Vejle.
The new sound works can be heard on site from 27th of July to 3rd of August 2022. You can also listen by downloading the Vejlemuseernes guide-app for free here and find the sound pieces in the digital guide to Tørskind Grusgrav.
The exhibition is curated by Tanja Toft Rix-Nielsen (Brydning) in collaboration with Vejle Kunstmuseum and has been made possible with generous support from the Danish Arts Council, Edith and Gotfred Kirk Christiansen's Foundation and the Visual Arts Council of Vejle Municipality.
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