Oulu Art Museum · 24 August – 26 November 2023 · 20-channel sound installation · 56 singers · Suomeksi
OWLA was made with three choirs from Northern Ostrobothnia and 56 singers. Their speech and singing formed a changing field across twenty loudspeakers in the darkened Tasku space of Oulu Art Museum.
Around 240 hours of recordings supplied the work. A generative system recombined fragments so that each visit sounded different. A shallow water basin anchored the room, and visitors could change position to hear voices from different distances.
A TURN IN THE PRACTICE
OWLA marked a change in how I worked with collective voice. The recordings were still made with communities, but the voices became the structure of the room. Listening to one person or to the larger body depended on where a visitor stayed.
DOCUMENTATION
CREDITS
Sound artist and convener: Jaakko Autio
Composition: Anna Voutilainen
Voices: Cassiopeia, Cantio Laudis and Tuiran Chamber Choir
Supported by Taike and the Regional Fund of Northern Ostrobothnia
