RUNA NORHEIM
Piece for Ear Defenders / Verk for Hørselvern
2011, Kunstbanken, Hamar
Piece for Ear Defenders was a sound installation where the audience was both the perceiver and the perceived.
The audience was handed one pair of ear defenders each and invited into a room where a low-frequency composition vibrated from large sub-woofer speakers. Ear defenders usually reduce volume, but when the frequency is as low as this they serve another function. The ear defenders do not reduce the deep bass, instead they enhance sounds that are generated by the body of the one wearing them. The vibrations from the speakers resonated in the bodies. Breath, swallows and pulse became the foreground of the sonic experience.
The work encourages the audience to listen to themselves listening, and raises awareness of the relation between the listener’s body, the room and the sound.
The pitch is turned up in the video in order to be audible from computer speakers.
Collaborators: Hanna Ekstrand and Karen Tømte
Composer: Kristian Møller
Photo/Film: Line Ørnes Søndergaard
