Photocredit:
bodøvoices
2014
soundpiece
cry baby pedal, lamppost, metal sign with list of participants birthdates
bodøvoices 2014 is about listening and memory. It is a permanent work outside the Library and Concert Hall in Bodø, in the north of Norway. The installation consists of an oversized lamppost (18m) – the kind that may be found along any harbour or road in the north of Norway. The lamp's circular beam becomes a spotlight - creating an outdoor stage for the city's population. The light circle mirrors light on the indoor stage of the large Concert Hall.
A Cry Baby pedal is placed in the centre where the light hits the ground, fixed on a black granite square. The granite is heated during the winter, keeping its black surface snow-free. This type of pedal is normally used to create a 'wah-wah' sound when connected to an electric guitar. The pedal triggers the sounds heard from 18 metres above. The sound comes from a large speaker, mounted in the copper lamp itself. The audio is the voices of people from Bodø in 2014: footballers from the local team Glimt, a great-grandmother with her two great-grandchildren, a boy born in 2014 and a young blogger. Each sound fragment lasts from 2 to 5 seconds. A sign on the ground list all the names in the work and when they are born. This mirrors who lived there in 2014, the year the work was installed.
