The eye is an animal
The body is an ear
The ear is a hand
A composer, disillusioned by the limits and weakness of the human imagination, decides to travel back to the nature where he grew up. He journeys to the rivers and tundras of Northern Norway, hoping to get in touch with other sources of music. The sensory biology of salmon and mosquitoes becomes rhythms and harmonies based on unknown principles. All the while the composer is constantly visited by ghosts of his own past, something that makes it ever more difficult to finish the composition Imaginalia.
Imaginalia revisited (2019) is a poetic and musical work with multiple thematic threads. At the core lies our relationship to nature, and various connections and differences between our way of seeing and listening, compared to other living beings. The work also generates new connections and liminal experiences between image and sound, between the visible and the invisible, and investigates through this how history and memory shapes our sensory experience of a place.
The essay 'Exercises on non-human listening' can be accessed in Lydgalleriet's listening library. Curated by Julie Lillelien Porter and co-produced by Lydgalleriet. Supported by Bergen City Council, Arts Council Norway and BEK.