Ingenmannsland (2019)

(NiemanDsland / No Man’s Land)

Immersive sound installation – field recordings; generative real-time computer processing, real-time sound spatialization; open duration

Multi-channel sound system, Raspberry Pi computer, digital-analog audio converter, amplifiers or active loudspeakers. Number and configuration of loudspeakers varies with size and shape of site.

In his 1924 poem “Stå vakt om naturen”, Norwegian poet and environmentalist Theodor Caspari (1853-1948) calls for “a shining `No-man's-land´” where “the creator is quiet” and natural forces roam. He warned against the threat posed to mountains, waters and forests and their inhabitants by “ill culture” and “fumes and roar of machines.” A no-man's-land refers both to land undisturbed by human activities as well as to areas of conflict. The ambiguity of this expression questions the connection between cultural identity and nature, which on the one hand is perceived as something plentiful, permanent and unbreakable, but on the other is subjected to a contemporary reality of fragmentation, rapid change, and the effects of climate disruptions and economic pressures.

Ingenmannsland (No Man's Land) is a constantly changing, speculative soundscape highlighting issues of deforestation, resource extraction, habitat loss, species extinction and natural vs. artificial life. It is a generative sound installation where sound elements undergo real-time transformations in ways that play with time-scaling and human perception to portray historical and projected data on deforestation and extinction rates. The work takes as a starting point sounds of the rainforest that once lined much of the western coast of Norway, processed to reflect a contemporary reality of fragmentation and rapid change. Only scattered fragments remain of the rainforest today, and it is now on the red-list of endangered habitat types. 80 percent of the coastal rainforest have been lost only in the past 100 years, and it is predicted to disappear completely within the next five decades. The loss of species and habitat is reflected in the installation by 80 percent of the sounds of birds and insects gradually disappearing as the day of the exhibition progresses. When this decline reaches a tipping point, sounds start to re-appear, but these are different – more static and artificial, as if we are entering another reality. The soundscape becomes a speculative environment based on projected future scenarios. What happens when forests disappear or dry out? Can our natural environment be replenished? Will it be replaced by artificial life? Do we have to resort to biomimicry for survival?

Further details (PDF, 3.7 MB): Frank-EKEBERG_Ingenmannsland.pdf

Ingenmannsland. House of Norway, Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, 10 October, 2019 - 26 January, 2020

Ingenmannsland, The White, the Green, and the Dark – Contemporary Positions from Norway, Felleshus, Berlin, 2 June - 4 October, 2020

“Drawing on natural ecosystems for inspiration and material, Frank Ekeberg’s audio compositions have a cyclical quality akin to the habitats they capture. Field recordings play a crucial role in Ekeberg’s practice and, for him, an environment’s sound quality reflects its overall health. Ekeberg’s sound piece ‘No Man’s Land’ is part of the current exhibition ‘The White, the Green, and the Dark: Contemporary Positions from Norway’ presented by the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin. Tracing the extinction of natural pollinators from the rainforest of Norway, ‘No Man’s Land’ is a critical reflection on the rapid and devastating effects of climate change in the region. We spoke to Ekeberg about this work, as well as his evolving practice and the process behind his audio compositions.”

— Berlin Art Link, June 2020