To hear on Sunday 20 and 27 January 2013, 2pm - 9pm:
Fyr (Lighthouse)
Version for ohrenhoch
(German Premiere)
by Kent Gustafsson
Kent Gustafsson on 'Lighthouse' [60 min.]:
Lighthouse, a soundscape
"Lighthouse" is based on a novel by the swedish writer Magnus Dahlström. This book describes the world in terms of sound. The first thing that struck me when reading was; what a great material for a soundscape. So I contacted the author and got his approval for making an artistic interpretation of his book.
The basic storyline is about a building of a lighthouse on a remote and lonely island. This island is exposed to the grimness of nature in a very rough manner. Strange things happens unclear exactly what. The engineer who has planned the project and constructed the lighthouse gradually loses controll over the situation. His powerlessness and frustration affects the gang of workmen and his maid who runs his household during the residency on the island.
My intention is to dramatize his mental condition and the negligent and ruthless coldheartedness he shows when he without success tries to recapture the control. This I plan to achieve by a soundscape. The piece will be built by authentic sounds. Partly with sounds that I have collected earlier in my soundbank but I also attend to do new fieldrecordings to find exatly the right sounds. These sounds will be subedited and processed further. This ends up in that the viewer, listener is being invited into the inner thoughts of the main character and gets an insight of his unstable mind. Without any possibilities whatsoever to shield oneself. The surround sound will embrace and intrude the viewer. Dahlströms text is constantly alluding to soundexperiences. Both to actual sounds and those who emerges in his almost obsessional brain. For me, as an soundartist, this novel is irresistable as a starting-point and source of inspiration."
'ohrenhoch - the Noise Shop' produces a special booklet also for the presentation of "Lighthouse", with an interview by Knut Remond with Kent Gustafsson.
The ohrenhoch special booklets are produced for every presentation also in the year 2013, and are available at 'ohrenhoch - the Noise Shop' only. Also, the "archive" copies of past presentations since february 2012 are available at ohrenhoch. The booklets are handmade, and printed on premium recycling paper with a velvety surface, they are produced in limited editions (10 copies), plus one single "luxury exemplar" on silver paper.
The interviews with the artists and the illustrations by Knut Remond aren't either published in the internet or available electronically.
Prices of the booklets:
Limited Edition (10 copies), per copy: 2 Euro
Single Luxury exemplar: 10 Euro
Kent Gustafsson
As an art student I studied painting and drawing. After about fifteen years I found that my work was lacking something. That´s why I at the end of the 90:s started to experiment with sound. It began with simple recordings I did with a minidisc and a portastudio. The more involved I got into sound the more fascinated I became. My early works were influenced by the swedish pioneers from the 60:s like Åke Hodell and Öyvind Fahlström. Today I do soundscapes meant to be played in public spaces, both indoors and outdoors. For example in parking garage, tunnels, supermarkets, libraries, foyers, waitingrooms etc. My work has been presented in galleries and on sound art festivals in Sweden, other european countries and Chile.