I have been visiting the Ahus hospital, in Oslo, Norway frequently the past year. On the way to the main entrance there is a 30 meter long roofed passage that takes you from the bus stop/ or the car park, to the main door. If it is raining, snowing or too hot weather it´s natural to walk along this passage, which protects you from the weather. The first time I walked there was in the middle of the day and there wasn’t many people entering the hospital. When walking under the passage suddenly a sound came from the roof as I passed. I took notice of it and wondered where it came from. After a few more steps a new sound came from the roof. I stopped and looked trying to understand where it came from and if it was me who elicited the sound. Standing motionless no more sounds were produced, and it was first when I started walking again a new sound appeared. I had to find out what this was. It cheered me up and awoke my curiosity.
Other days when arriving at another time of the day there were crowds of people entering the hospital the sound arrangements were more complex and endless changing. It could remind me of a Erik Satie-like muffled sound hit, with all due respect, deep chords. Being a frequently visitor to the hospital I have experienced that no day is alike. Here´s a bit of Erik Satie:
The installation “Nine Key Passage” is made of the artists Petter Nisunen and Tommi Grönlund from Finland in collaboration with the engineers James Andean, Jimi tenor, Mika Vainio and Kimmo Oksanen. It is an interactive sound installation and an auditory Artwork with 9 sound sources. There are 9 infrared sensor/speaker- pairs mounted in the ceiling of the passage. Each speaker plays different chords and when walking through the whole passage the speakers create a simple composition with 9 tunes. Everything depends on the amount of people passing and in which direction they are walking. The more the people, the more complex the arrangement becomes. In this way this hospital’s access road is characterised by sound. Every day during the year the sound scape is different, but all based on a computer based sound library which is presented in different combinations.
The artists explain it like this: “Communication in our public space is expanded here, the art reminds you of a utopian peace: both here and somewhere else. All the sounds are reduced and focusing on the character of sound itself and its relationship to the others.”
Grönlund and Nisunen live and work in Finland. They work with site-specific sound art and with the way people experience room and movements in room. As we heard about in the previous lectures of “Catalysts; Artists creating with video, sound and time” Sound Art is one of the principle areas of artistic practice within the contemporary visual arts. In this piece I think the artists work with sound as a material form making a “room” or space, which is modeled like a physical substance. Even though the sound is invisible it creates a physical room which the viewer experiences walking through it. The collaboration between artists and engineers is present in this piece and has it roots back to E.A.T from the early 60´s. New technologies have given artists without a background in music unprecedented access to the use of audio for artistic purposes.
This specific piece of art is one of 12 art pieces placed inside the frames of the hospital. The total Art project consists of 12 site-specific projects with different artists. 9 of the projects are placed on the inside, but all are in the main central communication area, where everyone have ascess. “Nine Key Passage” is the one of 3 outdoor projects, and the only one which is sound art.
The total Art project had a main goal to present and reflect about the chief Scandinavian Contemporary Art, and to show different approaches, strategies, voices and attitudes.
A hospitals function is basically to give treatment and care. The aim of the art is to relate to the hospital in a meaningful way. The Art is placed there to create a visual and new meaningful dimension. The art is supposed to enable the site in different ways and open to different cognitive and sensory experiences, and another goal is to both challenge and confirm our understanding of reality. Of course the art should have its own integrity and independence towards building architecture and design.
Ahus hospital- at the bottom of the picture you can see the lightened up passage.
One can easily imagine that most patients in a hospital situation are not intent on challenging or analysing art, rather a wish of escaping the moment and reality. I think environment affects us directly, particularly in vulnerable situations where everything gets significance greater than itself.
From this I should think that the artists are expected to take certain considerations when planning art in this context. Among the 12 art pieces placed in this hospital I think that “Nine Key Passage” is the most gripping, perhaps due to its elementary volatility.
It is the one of 12, I think, that appears to be more willing to establish contact with the environment and is paradoxically enough the most present, although it does not take any physical space, like the many monumental works do. The expectation it creates makes one forget the reason for entering the hospital. It creates a room in a parallel world where pain or anxiety is forgotten for a while. Within the frames of consideration expected when making Art for the Ill, I think that these two artists have created Art which is appealing, exciting and a great example of how Art, architecture and enviroment can collaborate and give the viewer a true experience of being lifted from the everyday situation.
I have been reflecting about the name of the piece, too. Can there be a connection to the rites of passage? As far as I know there is 9 steps one goes through during a initiation. Can these nine sounds have a symbolized connection to this? And if so, one could take the thoughts even further when thinking that a hospital is a site where life, new birth and death are central key words.
Here is an interview with the two artists, but about another art project.
In 2013 These 2 artists received the Leonardo da Vinci World Award of Arts. “This recognition is for their contributions to contemporary arts, their interdisciplinary approach, inspiring innovation, creativity and their particular view of synthesis. Their interdisciplinary approach brings together art, design, architecture and science.
Their large-scale spatial interventions and public as well as gallery installations involve a variety of materials and technologies, from the use of objects to light and sound. Nisunen and Grönlund deal with space, be it physical, ethereal or sonic. Works tend to change or reshape space and stimulate sensory perception through direct intervention, often with complex technical installations. The artists are not committed to one medium only, but are endlessly curious, capable of moving between disciplines and changing approaches.”
Grönlund and Nisunen
Here is the link to their website. http://g-n.fi
I am off to Ahus on Monday. I will make a short movie of the installation and post it here as soon as it is finished.
inspiration 
wow Janet, so interesting piece of art into an urban contest!I like the idea of change in positive emotions of patients and their relatives. the big idea here is to interact with people’s emotions, even if people are not in the hospital to admire the art. But art should not change the world?
Thank you very much Janet! Great considerations! I totally agree with you: “(…) The expectation it creates makes one forget the reason for entering the hospital. It creates a room in a parallel world where pain or anxiety is forgot for a while. Within the frames of consideration expected when making Art for the Ill, I think that these two artists have created Art which is appealing, exciting and a great example of how Art, architecture and enviroment can collaborate and give the viewer a true experience of being lifted from the everyday situation.”
Reblogged this on Gabry Parisi Blog.
Janet – Your choice to write about an artwork outside the museum context but in a more purposeful setting like a hospital gives your review a fresh perspective. So much about art and it’s value is healing, enlightening and transforming. You would think that bringing art into hospital settings would be seen as necessary as providing food and drink. Sadly this is rarely the case. In the past six months I lost both my mother (an amazing artist) and my brother. If such an artwork would have been part of my hospital visit experience, it may well have softened the sharp edges of my sadness. Thank you for your contribution.
Reblogged this on MoMA: Catalysts.
Reblogged this on btaft2.
Thank you writing so descriptively about an installation that makes use of sound. I want to learn more about ways to link the playing of sound to the motions of passers by. I reblogged your post so that I can study it further at a later day.