Sonotopographic Study is a work in progress for a 4 hours 45 min audiovisual installation prototype for the Public Eye project. The pilot project first phase was to demonstrate feasibility on a smaller scale for the main project. During the first phase, the emphasis has been on the technical feasibility. In Jotunheimen mountain range, Norway, a terrain resembling qualities and challenges for a range of remote locations was decided upon during summer and early autumn 2021. 13-15. October 2021 the first test-rig was setup by the technical crew, consiting of composer Knut Olaf Sunde, sound recording technician Cato Langnes, camera operator Morten Minothi Kristiansen and weather measurement engineer Hans Wilmers.
Although on a limited budget, we were able to put many challenges to the test. Some things went wrong, others worked quite well. We forgot certain tasks, learned how important others were, from the very practical tiny ones to broader artistic ones.
In addition to learning from the field work, the test should produce material to make an artistic outcome, functioning as a prototype. The material consists of soundscape recordings, video recordings and weather measurements. Of this, 4 hours 45 minutes video and audio material is selected for a four video channels and four audio channels installation. The weather data is used to procedurally govern some variables on an ARP 2600 synthesizer, which is in turn blended with the audio recordings to the combined auditory expression of the installation. This installation was planned for presentation by Ensemble Klang on Musical Utopias in Den Haag in January 2022, but this had to be cancelled because the Netherlands at the time implemented hard lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A short excerpt documentation video will be made.
