By Gry Bagøien
mals
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Sound Installation. 2020
Map of Lemuria By Wiliam Scott-Eliot
Lemuria was a continent that existed about 34 million years ago.
According to the prophecies of the theosof Mrs. H. P. Blavatsky, there once was a land called Lemuria. It was destroyed by volcanic fires, and most of its land now lies under the sea.
Blavatsky speaks of "the destruction of 'Lemuria' by underground fires" (volcanoes) that caused the continent to sink.The vast continent that had once ruled the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans now consisted of huge islands that gradually disappeared one after another.
Madagascar is one of the last remnants of Lemuria and the Indri lemurs living there are the last descendents.
Local legends discribe the Indri lemur as being half ghost, half man.They can jump between these worlds, as they like.
I went to Madagscar to see if I could sing with the Indri Lemurs, during their sun salutation to ask them about there lost land. How they used to live and if they had any advice for us. The lemur´s, sing the sun up and down every day.
The sound installation Lemurianernes sang/The song of the lemurians, was shown at Vejle kunstmuseum and Holstebro kunstmuseum
as part of the exhibition Navigeringer 2020/2021
foto.Steffi Niederzoll
@Lastlanguage2020
lemuria. (work in process.)
The work consists of a written text, performed/sung
manipulated pictures/video, shot in Madagascar's jungle. 2019
In 2019 i went to Madagascar to record a new work, The song of the Lemurians. 2020. The work was about the lost land of lemuria. I wanted to see if I could sing with the Indri lemurs, and ask them about their lost land. ( Legends tell of a lost land called Lemuria, that sank due to a geological catastrophe. It is said that Madagascar is the last part of Lemuria, and that the Indri Lemurs living there, are the descendants of the Lemurians). The Indri lemurs sings the sun up and down everyday. Their singing sound is incredibly loud and, reaches heights around, 110 Decibel. I found them during their sun greetingin, singing high in the trees, loud and beautiful, and i started to sing my Questions to them (in an abstract sound-language) I asked them about there lost land. How they used to live ? And why their world came to an end? But they didn't respond to my voice or my presence at all.
It was as if I, for them did not exist.
The experience was very different, compared to the other animals I have sung with.
(In the last few years I have been working on a longer study, trying to find some kind of common language, between humans, plants and animals. I use my voice and my experience, as a singer, to interact with the different species.) In my work, I have had strong reactions in many ways, but with the Indri Lemura, there was no reaction. At least not one that I could understand or see right there.
Local Madagascan stories, tell of Indri lemurs as being half ghost, half human.
It really seemed like they were some kind of ghosts. Floating through the canopy of the trees, as their bodies growing to twice their size, and this strange song, or call resonating through the jungle.
Finally I used my opera singing technique, so I could sing the same decibel as them. My voice penetrated the monotone pulsing sound of the jungle. And they finally responded, they tried to follow the sound, but it seemed like they couldn't really see me ? and they fled into the jungle as if they had seen a ghost.
I must be a ghost to them.
I Accepted it. I am a ghost to the ghost
If I'm a ghost to the ghost, whose world are we in?
Are we In the middle of Lemuria ?
Am I standing in a city right now, a church or the town hall of lemuria?
I just can't see it, like certain frequencies, we can't see or hear, but other species can.
Is that what you learned at doomsday, at the downfall of Lemuria, to jumb between worlds?
The transformation of energy and material, we will land in the land of the extinct.
They come and call the sun up, for us? or is their call, some kind of bridge? The bridge between worlds?
Why are we so unattached to the earth? What being would destroy its own nest?
We must be aliens, lost in worlds ?
Oh holy be
half man, half ghost.
I am asking you as as ghost to ghost
To teach us the song of the bridge, so we can find home
before we break, this world in surge for it.
And so they began.....and they went on and on
till i sang along
the song othe bridge
Even in death, when we transcend
we shrink
the cord of being
that can be cultivated
and expanded, shrinks
we become alien
and unconnected
but if we cultivate it
and weave it
together
to a basket
we can carry the world
and
realize it
foto.Steffi Niederzoll @Lastlanguage2020
In the work Ground station, I sing inside a homemade parabolar I dug out of the ground.
To reach the star nation, aliens, god and all the other beings of the universe,
My fascination with Parabolars/satellite dishes goes way back.
The first time I was introduced to it`s sound phenomenon was as a kid, on the harbour in Copenhagen. There was a dish on either side of the harbour, you could wisper into the middle of one and hear it clearly in the other.
Due to the shape of the dish you can use it both as a transmitter and as a receiver. The ancient Greeks used the same shape in their theatres to transmit sound out to the audience, and it is still used in today's modern stages, microphones, antennas etc. I used the parabolars in my work Instinkt (see details under the instinkt tab)
Depending on the size of it, the further the Parabolar can transmit, so when I came across the Arecibo Ionosphere Observatory ( see photo 1, 2 ). I was immediately awakened. I wanted go there to crawl into it and sing
to the stars and the creatures living there. But it wasn't possible to get there. So I built my own on a field in Denmark. I dug my Parabolar in the ground and covered it with clay and performed in it. In order to get more sound out of it,
Istrapped a loudspeaker around my waist, and made it point down towards the centre of the dish so it could broadcast as far as possible.
In addition I had a balloon hanging in the focal point, with a wireless microphone attached to it. The mic picked up the sound from above the Parabolar dish, and sent it down to heardphones on the ground.
you could stand next to me and watch me perform, while you could hear what the stars would hear.
@lastlanguage2020
1
2
I sing you an ocean
and swim to the land
we can make love there
in the white sand
I'll draw you a mountain
And climb to the top
I scream to the world
Who I love
I'll write you a poem
A whole novel
When we have nothing
We still have stories to tell
All comes from Nothing
Nothing at all
All comes from Nothing
Nothing at all
dancing little
butterfly
what will happen
when
I die?
early star
above the sea
where does the sun
fall a sleep?
lover
lover
love of me
can we cross eternity?
S p i r i t s. Video (work in prosess)
Instinkt.
In the work Instinkt I sing with humpback whales in northern Norway.
Instinkt is part of a longer research where I explore and try to document a kind of common language between humans, and other beings.The sound of the video is played and reflected, on 2 large Parabolar dishes.
When whales need to communicate over long distances, they make use of the same technique as the parabolar. They "shoot" their song into the sea floor, which is then reflected up under the surface of the sea, this reflection can continue over 1000 of sea miles, they can then make their song reach much further.
The work was shown at Gallerie Pirpa 2017 and at Vejle Kunstmuseum / Holstebro Kunstmuseum 2020-2021
In addition, an LP of the audio material with underwater recordings has been released
@lastlanguage2017
INSTINKT
Video 9 min. 2017
Udrag fra dagbog. Gry Bagøien 30 december til 9 Januar 2017. (Danish)
Min elskede min elskede, jeg er på vej til dig nu. Jeg kan endelig gøre det, det jeg skulle,
jeg ved du høre mig, jeg ved du vil være der. Jeg vil mærke dig og møde dig der, min elskede.
Min kuffert er fyldt med udstyr som jeg vil sænke i vandet
jeg har talt med dem
om dig
jeg ved de høre alt, jeg ved de venter mig.
Havet er koldt, vil kulden suge strømmen ud af udstyret?
vil jeg nå det? vil det kunne lade sig gøre?
vil de ha jeg jeg fanger det? eller er det meningen at det ikke, skal fanges?
alt det jeg ved, jeg ved de ved
og lyset hvad med lyset? Vil der altid være mørkt?
Vi køre i landskab af pudder omkranset af bjerge
jeg har savnet dem, bjergene
det er et liv siden jeg så dem sidst.
Jeg mærke fjælet, mærker mig
De mærker mig som de vil mærke mig
de vil læse mig i hver en lyd
Vil jeg kunne forstå ? Vil jeg være stor nok til at kunne ta imod?
Vil jeg søge så meget at jeg intet høre?
Jeg køre i hvidt
og lyserødt lyserblåt og hvidt
og lyserødt helt blødt
De ligger dernede i bugten
deres fontener afsløre dem
men de er for lagt væk.
Vi sejler ud tidligt næste morgen vandet er blankt
jeg synger i stævnene, du er der om mig vi bevæger os
som dem
på vandet
jeg ser jer
jeg synger
i omkranser
og begynder at tude, igenne jeres ånde hulder som horn,
dybe tåger horn, synger vi samme sang
vi bevæger os ikke mere.
Om natten vandre vi i nordlyset
du falder mod mig, i tunge tåger af lys, dråber af lys
falder elektrisk
mens de ligger derude og pruster
Om morgenen tar vi derud igen
vi sejler med Odd, jeg kender ikke odd men vi kænder hinanden
Han runger, han ser, uden at se med øjnene, selv hans smil er sørgmodigt
vi sejler længe med Odd
så stopper vi
Jeg kalder jer, jeg kalder og kalder jeg kan høre min stemme der i dybet
reflektere mellem bjergenes væge i havets dyb
så lille min stemme alene i dybet
kalde
på jer
på kontakt
et møde jeg har drømt om findes
og jeg ved i høre, jeg ved i ved jeg er her
og høre
i dybe basstemmer svare i
vibrationer
gennem båden gennem min krop
et møde
og jeg sænker mit udstyr i vandet og synger
i vand
Jeg kalder jer, jeg kalder og kalder
jeg ved i høre jeg ved i høre
jeg høre
i dybe basstemmer svare i
og vibrationer
gennem båden gennem min krop
et møde
for en stund føler vores stemmer hinanden der i havet et
kærtegn
vi kan ikke ses men høres
så kommer stormen
med sneen
jeg løfter op mit udstyr og synger i luften til jer
i omkranser båden og ligger og lytter
helt stille
bjergene, båden, omkranset af hvaler
sangen stemmen
jeg ser på odd
han græder
INSTINKT tromvik 2017.
Excerpt from Diary. Gry Bagøien 30 December to 9 January 2017.(English)
My beloved my beloved, I am on my way to you now.
I can finally do what I was meant to do,
I know you hear me, I know you'll be there. I will feel you and meet you there, my love.
My suitcase is filled with equipment that I will lower into the water
I've talked to them
About you
I know they hear everything, I know they await me.
.
The sea is cold, will the cold suck the power out of the equipment?
Will I make it? Will it be possible?
Will they want me to catch it? Or is it not meant to be caught?
All I know, I know they know
And the light What about the light? Will it always be dark?
We're driving in a landscape of powder surrounded by mountains
I've missed them, the mountains
It's been a lifetime since I last saw them.
I feel the mound, feel me
they feel me as they will feel me
They'll read me in every sound
Will I be able to understand? Will I be big enough to receive? Will I seek so much that I hear nothing?
I'm driving in white
and pink and blue and white
all soft
They're down there in the bay
Their fountains reveal them
But they're too far gone.
We sail out early in the morning the water is clear
I sing in the stem, you surround me
we move
Like them
on the water
I see them
I sing
they surround us
and begin to howl, out of your blowhole like horns,
deep mists horns, we sing the same song
we move no more.
At night we wander in the northern lights
you fall towards me, in heavy mists of light, drops of light
fall electric
while, they are lying out there and huffing
In the morning, we go out again with Odd.
I don't know Odd, but we know each other.
He resonates, he sees without looking with his eyes,
and he smile his smil of sorrow
We sail with Odd for long.
Then we stop.
And I lower my equipment into the water and sing
in water
I call you.
I call and call, my voice reflects
between the mountain walls in the deep deeb sea
My voice so small there alone in the deep
calling for you.
for contact.
a meeting I have dreamed posible
And I know you hear, I know you know I'm here
I hear
In deep bass voices you answer
and vibrations
through the boat through my body.
an encounter
for a while our voices feel each other there in the sea a caress towards each other neither of us can see just hear
Then the storm komes with the snow
I lift out my gear and start singing in the air
you surround the boat, quietly lying there.
the mountains, the boat, surrounded by whales
the song my voice
I look at odd
he cries
INSTINkT tromvik 2017.
Instinkt. Optagelser under vandet. Double LP.
by. Gry Bagøien
The lp Instinkt, consist of recordings of me trying to communicate with whales underwater, in northern Norway.
The recordings are from boats, bridges and land. You can hear the humpback whales reacting to my voice, as well as the sound of the mechanical drone noise, of the fishing boats, that blend with the ultra high sinus song of the Orcas.
The Album Instinkt is a limited edition of 25 signed pieces.
@Lastlanguage2017
Listen to Instinkt album
op under stjernerne
bor de vildeste dyr
de taler med sanserne
de kommer så nær
hvis du ber dem om vej
forfører de dig
og tar dig på tur
i et himelisk bur
de viser dig verdner
af udvidet stjerner
multidimensioner
og flydende ord
de fletter din tanke
så du mister din vej
og sætter dig af
på kanten af jorden
hvor himlen gror
og himlen gror
og himlen gror
tekst. Gry Bagøien
@lastlanguage 2017
Sange for Planter (Songs for Plants) is part of an study into the plant Desmodium Gyrans and its reaction to the human voice.
I created songs in collaboration with the plant from notes to lyrics to which the plant has shown a particularly sensitive reaction (Desmodium Gyrans is a tropical Asian shrub, also known as telegraph plant or semaphore plant. It is related to the mimosa and the venus flytrap and is especially sensitive to sound and telepathy. When exposed to this, Desmodium Gyrans moves its leaflets in elliptical patterns at speeds high enough to be seen by the naked eye.)
Sange for Planter was recorded and performed at kunstkapellet KIKshh. 2014.
Everything living changes according to how much it is loved. These plants are living proof of that, they clearly show with their movements when there is something they like, it is obvious that they prefer loving thoughts and words.The plant can tell the difference between who talks to them, when I come home after travelling it will move its leaves and if I just think loving words to it, it will also move its leaves
we become connected. Each plant behaves differently. I love this work and Iam in the process of writing poems together with them.. I have developed a system where the plants choose there words, it is a longer process but one day there will be a little book and probably another record....
Sange for planter. 7, single.
@Lastlanguage2015
Kødet
skal
bære
din
tanke
afsted
gennem
tusinde
atommer
mod polerne
kloner
atlantiske
nedbør
din
bestjernede
fod
skal
jordligt
forføres
i mikro
makrobiske
muld
Gry bagøien.
sange for planter. 2015
Wiiu Wiiit Grr
video 40 min 2006
The video Wiiu Wiit Grr, is my first work in a series of studies, where I try to find a kind of common language between humans plants and animals. this i what i found
Before
the language
animal was human
human animal
paints it on his wall
transfers of powers believing he is it
killing with permission of the victim
He sculptures a totem
a system of believes
mixing man with animal
linking to
each other
Holy falcons
sacred cows
sphinxes and cats and dragons
human-headed winged bull
centaurs and mermaids
representing gods
guiders to the other side
being other beings others being me
Tekst Gry Bagøien
@lastlanguage2006
Installation & Lp . 2016
Terratorium
Is a series of sound pieces and collages that tryes to describe a lost landscape. The pieces are created from realsound collected on Bornholm.Terratorium is a place within, that stretches out into the horizon.
The paper collages are created from metals inherited on Bornholm
Terratorium: were exhibited at R2 Galleri in Svaneke Bornholm 2016
Lp.
Side A.
1. Nat
2. Spor
3. Salende
Side B.
1. Elv
2. Ånder
3. Omrum
POSTKORT Lp 7 single. 2018
Iscreamman : Recorded in Harlem New York, summer 2013.
On a trip to Harlem I heard the ice cream truck for the first time and just had to record it, I sang on top of the recordings when I got home to Berlin.
Lovelyday : Recorded in Gudhjem in the fall of 2013. Around 6pm, up behind Bokul at Grå myr, the rooks always came to sleep while the church bells jingled. I'm on an evening walk with Laica.
Flying carpet : Recorded at Hermannplatz, Berlin summer 2012.
I love the sound of hydraulic motors and electric doors opening and closing... made a little collage of u bahn doors etc. Me and Emil talked all night and got drunk on his carpet the next day I went home and sang the vocals to flying carpet.
Mørke pletter : recorded in Gudhjem in the winter of 2012.
I dreamed of singing with whales underwater but I had no finances for it, so I made a sound collage with whale sounds and sang to it. A few years later I went to northern Norway and sang with the whales in real life :)
Hav beat /Sea Beat : Recorded in Gudhjem at Mågestolen 2014
@lastlanguage2018
I
I
I
Singing the soundwave image of the panorama. Jyderup lake
( the green line is the soundhead )
@Larstlanguage2018