Norway Remixed (2002)

Field recordings recorded or streamed live by NRK, Norwegian National Broadcasting, from all regions of Norway formed the raw material of an interactive installation at the central railway station in Oslo. A number of parabolic loudspeakers guided the audience towards a custom designed room where they could interact with remixed and processed versions of the field recordings. The processed sounds where spatialized in 3D using 24 loudspeakers.

An installation by Asbjørn Flø, Trond Lossius and Risto Holopainen.

In the main hall of Oslo S, the Central Railway Station in Oslo, a roofed enclosure allowed the public to experience Norway as one nation of sounds. All of the regional offices of NRK, the Norwegian Broadcasting Company, contributed sounds from their regions. The sounds were collected, some as live streams, and reinterpreted artisticly in a custom-built acoustic room containing 24 loudspeakers hidden in the walls, creating a 3-dimentional sound space. A custom-made user interface allowed the audience to interact with the installation and experience sounds from various parts of Norway in new and surprising ways.

The installation was open for the duration of the contemporary music festival Ultima 2002. NRK P2 also made an 1 hour radio program based on the sound compositions for the installation.

Sound from the installation later was further remixed by Asbjørn Flø and presented as a radiophonic sound-art work with a total duration of 23’50”. The composition became the Norwegian entry for the Radiophonic Competition at the Quinta Bienal Internacional de Radio, Mexico 2004. It was also a “pink offer” of NRK to the EBU, and broadcasted by at least 14 radio channels around Europe.

Credits:

Produced by NoTAM, NRK, Ultima and Mesén. The project was realized in collaboration between NRK, NoTAM , Rom for Kunst ved Oslo S/Mesén and Ultima.