A SAILING SCULPTURAL INSTALLATION IN CONCRETE
BY SCULPTOR MARIT BENTHE NORHEIM
THE PROJECT / THE MUSIC
The music for Life-boats
The composer Geir Johnson
During the last twenty years I have worked out a lot of works to Marit Benthe Norheim's sculptures. Some have been implemented for the unveiling and inauguration. Others have been mounted inside her sculptures - and some have been pure sound installations - music to accompany the sculptures. When she asked me to compose music for Life-Boats, it was soon clear to me that I would need to consider at least two different tasks. One would be to create a music that follows the boats on the journey, and which is mounted inside the boat, while the other will be the music used when the boats come to their port calls elsewhere.
I have chosen to take on the first task, to create music that is inside the boats, and that will meet the public when they enter the boat. These boats has thus become open, acoustic rooms for a music that mingles with the sounds of nature, sea and environment – thus the experience for the public is likely to change at each port.
Each boat has got its individual expression.
In "Life" I have tried to recreate a music that the unborn child might register while still being in the womb - unknown noises can most likely he heard or felt there, from the outside. The unknown world may seem alluring, while another portion may seem more challenging – like life itself, eventually manifests itself for most of us.
In "Longing" the listener will encounter music that comes from many different corners of the world, traditional music that has the sea as the common theme. The sea has always occupied man in the art, and this is just a small section of the story, from a Laestadian hymn in Finnish to gospel, to Thai music of the sea each depicting the relationship in their own way - as well as from several other countries.
In "Memories”, I have let the voices of the women who are models for the sculptures, to have their say through their own words, while they give glimpses of what has shaped them through life.
Vocal performer Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer
The vocal performer Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer has started a new piece of work in relation to the Life-boats journeys , where she will involve the audience directly into her musical perfor-mances/happenings, called ”Life-sounds” Her musical language is communicative and contains roots from classical and ethnic traditions. She is exploring vocal combinations of both. Below is extracts from her concept description
Life-boats become Life-sounds
”It radiates so powerfully from the boats of Marit Benthe Norheim that they must get answers from living women on land. The boat sculptures must be transformed into social sound sculptures: Lifesounds The boats - “Longing”, “Life”, and “Memories” must meet children, pregnant women and women over 70 when they dock. We must hear the sound of this meeting. We must hear children’s voices of the most peculiar varieties, elderly people humming an old song from their shared musical heritage and very importantly, we must hear the sound of unborn life: many pregnant women gathered with contact microphones on their bellies so that we can all hear it together. That is how we become bound together in a communal sound sculpture. This is universal, indivisibly connected to the life cycle and life experiences. Powerful and inviolable. More specifically, I can see how this sound composition, which is directly inspired and connected to Life-boats, could form a kind of core in the diverse cultural exchange that will take place when the boats arrive at various locations. This core is so powerful that it can enter into an artistic unity with other expressions of both visual as well as performance art”.
Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer was born in Tromso, Norway, in 1961 and received her master degree in music from the Grieg Academy in Bergen. She also studied for two years at the ‘Mozarteum’ in Salzburg, which is the Academy for Music and Performing Arts in Austria.Meyer is a freelance performer and explorer of sound, and does concerts and vocal perfomances in Norway and throughout Europe. 2009 saw the premiere, and several following presentations, of the work ‘R’arier for en kjole – changing identities’ in Lillehammer and Bodø. It was also performed at the Bergen International festival 2011.The work is a non-verbal a capella mini opera specially written for Meyers solo voice and a youth choir, composed by Synne Skouen. Voiceperformer: Ruth Wilhelmine Meyer. Choreografer/ regisseur: Solvi Edvardsen.Meyer has had a close collaboration with Grzech Piotrowski and his ‘world orchestra’ since the spring of 2010. Together they have recorded CDs, and toured Poland, Slovenia and Russia. Ruth Wilhelmine is the performing vocal soloist, while the Norwegian percussionist Terje Isungset, is among the other collaborating soloist musicians.Ruth Wilhelmine is also a member of the group AKKU, which consists of Lars Andreas Haug (tuba), Elfi Sverdrup (vocal), Grzech Piotrowski (saxophones) and Knut Aalefjær (percussion). The group frequently tours schools in Norway, in arrangement with Rikskonsertene. A new CD: AKKU5 has been released 2011.She also did performances with the project ‘Fugl’ which is a collaboration with Norwegian folk singer Agnes Buen Garnås. The performance is an adventurous concert for people from 0 to 100 years of age. In addition, Meyer toured with the scenic concert of LJOD together with percussionist Marilyn Mazur, folk singer Agnes Buen garnås and harpist Helen Davies Mikkelborg. www.wilhelmine.no