CHRIS WATSON / Hverir, Iceland, 2020
PRESENTING EKO 8 ART PROJECTS
CHRIS WATSON / Hverir, Iceland, 2020
8-channel spatial sound installation, 15 min 43 sek
Hverir is an 8-channel spatial sound installation, which places the listener within a dynamic and hostile environment across the volcanic fault line that runs through Iceland. Watson writes:
“The Mid Atlantic Ridge is a geological fracture between the two tectonic plates which divide Iceland between the North American plate to the west and the Eurasian plate to the east. Hverir sits across this continental divide and periodically broadcasts signals from the underworld which break through the surface as simmering, heaving, gasping, giggling, boiling, noxious, fractures which remind us that although these are places of wonder and awe, we should quite rightly fear to tread. Hverir tells us stories of deep time in an instant, the sagas of an evolving landscape and a warning of not if, but when.”
He adds: “I met Andri Snær Magnason at his home in Reykjavík for a radio interview regarding the landscape of Iceland and the Eyjafjallajökull eruption of 2010. One particular memory I have is his description of standing close to where the lava was cooling and hearing a continuous sound ‘like that of breaking glass’ as the molten rock solidified.”
Chris Watson (b. 1952, United Kingdom) is a musician and sound recordist specialising in natural history. He was a founding member of the influential Sheffield based experimental music group Cabaret Voltaire during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since then he has developed a particular interest in recording the wildlife sounds of animals and habitats from around the world. Working as an artist, composer and sound recordist Watson specialises in creating spatial sound installations which feature a strong sense and spirit of place.
