Jaakko Autio: ON THE BORDER, Chapter I
Completion year: 2022
Technique: 40 channel sound installation with video projection.
Size: Suurikokoinen (800m2) immersiivinen ääniteos
Keywords: Jaakko Autio, narva identiteetti, suomi, viro, venäjä geo-politiikka, ääni-installaatio, äänitaide, identiteetti, immersio, katharsis, NomadVocals, Nart residenssi, Tallinnan musiikkiviikko, Kreenholmin tehdas.
ON THE BORDER was presented at the Kreenholm factory in Narva, Estonia, on 6–8 May 2022 as part of Tallinn Music Week. It was developed during a residency at NART on the Estonian–Russian border.
The title refers both to national borders and to boundaries between people. The work asks who we are in a world divided by geopolitics, and what happens when we listen to one another. Narva’s multilingual environment and local people’s relationships with Estonia and Russia form its starting point.
The installation brings together the singing, breathing and speech of 40 Finnish, Estonian and Russian-speaking Estonian singers. The sound includes fragments of the melody shared by the Finnish and Estonian national anthems. Visitors can approach an individual voice or listen to the choir as a whole.
The work was created with four choirs: the Narva Music School Girls’ Choir, the Narva Estonian Language House Tandem Choir, the Narva Museum folk ensemble Suprjadki, and Nomad Vocals from Finland.
Sound installation: Jaakko Autio.
Composition: Jussi Mattila, drawing on Fredrik Pacius’s Maamme / Mu isamaa (1848).