HILJAA LÄSNÄ
Narrative sound installation
Duration 3’39” min
Headphones, trigger, CD-player
Spellbound by Stories
The Lönnström Art Museum
Curated by Juha-Heikki Tihinen
2010
Hiljaa Läsnä was made in The Lönnström Family House, which now days operates as a Family Museum. The Lönnströms were manufacturing ammunition and detonators during The Second World War, their home (the museum) is located right next to where the factories used to be. Teresia Lönnström was the founder of The Lönnström Art museum in Rauma Finland, where the bigger part of the exhibition Spellbound by Stories was held.
The work starts when the viewer sits down on the chair. From the headphones the viewer hears the sound of a woman descending the stairs behind the chair. The woman excuses herself and then tells the story of her grandfather who got wounded by a grenade in the war. During his coma her grandfather had a supernatural experience of moving in time and space and meeting with his sister. After his recovery his sister confirmed their meeting.
The work was made in Finnish, but the script itself was based on an earlier work Her Presence Still from 2007.
The recording of the story is done together with an actor in the same room. I have used a binaural recording technique with “’in-ear”’ microphones. Heard through headphones this creates a very credible three dimesnional sound in the room.
Actor: Anna-Mari Karvonen
Technical support: Sami Suihkonen