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SOUNDTRACK NISSAN / 2016 Mikael Ericsson, in Soundtrack Nissan, brings together field recordings from Halmstad and excerpts of soundtracks drawn from classic films with waterfront settings. The field recordings were made by participants in the soundwalks that the Ericssons led before the festival Sound at Nissan. The crane provided a useful visual focal point and a natural stand for mounting two large horn speakers high above ground. This area, slated for redevelopment in the coming years, is marked by more sparse, open brownfield space than the green corridor and commercial city centre to the north across the road bridge, which forms a boundary between the city centre and the southern area. Though it is well used by local industries and people docking and servicing their boats, the area does not attract the kind of heavy footfall to be seen further north. The river opens out to the harbour just south of here, where the site seems to blend into the industrial zone of the port. The project Soundtrack Nissan engaged with this open public arena for listeners, offering a subtle intervention without a clear beginning or end. Ericsson’s work was the most heterogeneous in terms of sound content, with long pauses between field recordings, passages of song and music, and evocative fragments of dialogue that retained the shuffling and crackling of film foley sound effects found on the original soundtracks. The playback of the piece through the horn speakers created a wider performative space than most of the other works in the festival and allowed listeners a sense of drifting in the open space as strangely familiar sonic elements mingled with everyday sounds. |