Sound of Time - Tuning into the Norwegian Landscape and the Post-Industrial Soundscape

Alexander Rishaug

This exposition is a non-linear, web based, poetic, personal, diary-like, essayistic, semi-fictional, experimental and reality-based approach to immerse into the reflection-mode and mind boggling universe of the project Sound of time - Tuning into the Norwegian Landscape and the Post-Industrial Soundscape, that took place in the time frame 2018 - 2022 at Academy of Arts, UiT Arctic University of Norway. Through his field work Rishaug's been tuning in (and out), listening, recording and investigating a wide range of sites and places, their presence, their history, stories, acoustic qualities and psychoacoustic state. This resulted in site specific installations, various collaborations, a solo exhibition, an artist book and a field recording album. With a growing toolkit of listening strategies, methods, techniques and technology Rishaug's been able to pick up, and record a variety of audible qualities of the Norwegian landscape such as vibration, resonance and electromagnetic waves. This not only highlights the physical presence of current sounds, but points towards the contemporary state of global economy and geo-politics and how this transforms the landscape.

Samling (negotiations with material)

Throughout my project I have been collecting materials, objects, remnants etc. from the places where I have been recording, but also ‘accidental’, randomly on my way to my studio, or out on a hike. I pick up things that look interesting or that trigger a story or open up a new idea in my head. I am not using the methods of an archaeologist or an historian, to systematically document and register things. I am more interested in their personality, character, their hidden story and creative potential. I have been playing around and experimenting different contexts and giving new meaning and form. Drawing on the playfulness and spontaneity of Dadaism and the Fluxus movement.

The artist as a collector is an established term within the art world. In 2015 the Barbican Art Centre in London presented the exhibition Magnificent Obsession – The artist as collector, ranging from mass-produced memorabilia, popular collectibles, rare artefacts and found objects. The exhibition featured artists such as Arman, Peter Blake, Hanne Darboven, Edmund de Waal, Damien Hirst, Sol LeWitt, Martin Parr, Jim Shaw, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Andy Warhol, Pae White, and Martin Wong/Danh Vo. Here in Norway the collection of the artist Guttorm Guttormsgård have been of great inspiration and importance. The way he collects art and found objects and equates both work from professional artists such as Picasso and Munch with found material and multiples made by Russian prisoners. When he was present he used the collection actively both in his art and education. Today Guttormsgaard Arkiv functions as an independent institution around the collection of Guttorm Guttormsgaard (1938–2019) It is located in the Old Blaker Dairy, close to the Glomma river in Lillestrøm muncipality.

Below are some experiments and tryouts

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