Ergan
Sound installation.
Loudspeakers and electronics.
Sound from Ergan in Bud, work in progress, 2020-
The sound of Ergan Kystfort as a sonic and historical phenomenon was the starting point for my stay in Bud during Møre og Romsdal Art Center’s project week in September 2020. Ergan Kystfort was established by German troops from 1941 to 1945 as part of the Atlantic Wall, the German defense that stretched from France in the south to Finland in the north. The heavy manual labour in connection with the construction of Ergan Kystfort was carried out by Polish and Soviet prisoners of war.
Ergan Kystfort is the result of historical processes, but it is also a complex sound phenomenon. During the project week, I worked with environmental sounds through field recordings of natural phenomena from Bud, but also man-made sound spaces in the form of the specific acoustics of Ergan Kystfort.
The area has many complex acoustic spaces, including a large water tank in the rock far below the ground. This acoustics was mapped through acoustic measurements. In this way, it is possible to map an acoustic impression of a space in the same way as one can make an impression of a three-dimensional object. This sound material is further investigated during the making of the finished work. With these techniques, the acoustic and historical perspectives of sound will be examined in the final work. After the stay, I worked for two weeks in Atelier Nord’s studio in Oslo with the finishing of the material from Bud.
I am now working on further developing the material for a sound installation. Through studies of large amounts of sound recordings and acoustic data from Ergan Kystfort in Bud, both the sounds’ sound possibilities and their meaningful properties are examined. These sounds have on the one hand a historical and conceptual side and on the other hand they have hidden unheard timbres.
The project is supported by Møre og Romsdal Art Center.
Ergan is a work in progress.
Thanks to Atelier Nord, Haraldr Bjellvåg, Bud Kystmuseum, Notam, Romsdalsmuseet, Madeleine Park and Møre og Romsdal Art Center.
More about Ergan:
Sjaastad Hagen, Rigmor 2020. Captures the sound of the bunkers in Bud (in Norwegian only).
Sketches of Ergan sound installation. 3D models: Asbjørn Blokkum Flø.
Detail from Ergan Kystfort. 3D models: Asbjørn Blokkum Flø.
Recording of impulse responses. Photo: Asbjørn Blokkum Flø.
Recording of impulse responses. Photo: Robert Farstad and Sonja Vestad.