Free Jazz IV. Geomancers Screening Programme: Acoustic Ocean, Ursula Biemann (Switzerland)

Blk 38 Malan Road, The Single Screen
2018, video, 4K, colour, sound, 18 min

Acoustic Ocean explores the underwater soundscape of the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway bringing us closer to the acoustic life of this “insomniac territory” for long believed to be silent. In the film’s narrative, the Aquanaut—a semi-fictional marine biologist interpreted by singer and environmental activist Sofia Jannok—performs the ritual placement of hydrophones, parabolic microphones, and other recording devices along the shore to sense the sonic expressions of multiform sea creatures. Turning to the land, she also reveals the effects of climatic shifts on the Sami people, a Northern Scandinavian indigenous community she belongs to. The work brings to the surface the density of signs and the meaningful vocalisations expressed by the inhabitants of the earth’s liquid universe paving the way for new relations between human and non-human lifeforms.