Jana Winderen “Heated²”

Shedhalle / Exhibitions / Lands End / Artists

Jana Winderen, Norway: by Julia Barclay, Kangia, Greenland 2009

So far, the concept of landscape was dealt with from a human perspective and the visible world. Beyond these categories and beneath the surface there are, however, worlds we know very little of. Jana Winderen’s sound installation lets us experience the sounds of these worlds and, e.g., that fish are anything but mute. In “Heated²” she uses underwater microphones, hydrophones, recording the sounds beneath the ice. We hear, e.g., the calls of a mating cod, or a sturgeon defending its territory, or a crab/prawn that petrifies its prey.

Winderen takes the materials she collected on field trips to Greenland, Iceland, and Norway between 2007 and 2009 and turns it into sound compositions. The fascinating aspect is that she practically does not use any electronic transformations, the sounds, however, seem electronic to us since this is what we are familiar with. The artist writes: “The acoustic environment of the oceans plays is an essential component of life for the creatures inhabiting the seas. As species die out, so also does their sound imprint, without us knowing they were ever there, before we are even close to understanding them and their habitats”. The sounds of “Heated²” pervade the whole exhibition.