Interest in ‘affective geographies’, as a way to allow for sensual re-orientation, led chamber ensemble Nordic Affect to instigate a collaborative project with four composers under such a thematic banner. The result is Surfacing, a concert that invites transversal thinking within ecosystems thanks to the works of Lilja María Ásmundsdóttir (IS), Davíð Brynjar Franzson (IS), Juliana Hodkinson (GB) and Ida Lundén (SE). The event includes a special guest appearance by Lilja María Ásmundsdóttir (the light and sound sculpture ‘Hulda’), Ida Lundén (electronics), as well as artificial intelligence.

The programme

• Surfacing (world premiere) Lilja María Ásmundsdóttir

• Violin fragments (world premiere) Davíð Brynjar Franzson

• Heaven whisked the clouds away (world premiere) - Ida Lundén

• Nothing breaking the losing: necessary places (world premiere) Juliana Hodkinson

Surfacing is inspired by what lies beneath the surface of the earth. The piece is written for Nordic Affect, the audio-visual sculpture Hulda and electronics. Hulda is a string instrument that produces both sound and light. During performances Hulda’s surroundings are filled with sounds, patterns, shadows and colours that constantly change. Lilja María Ásmundsdóttir

The material of Violin fragments is equally contributed by the performer and the composer. The performer searches through these materials, discovering the piece as it goes along. The separation between performer and listener is blurred in the performers search for the piece. Davíð Brynjar Franzson

Himlen viftade molnen bort

The title (Heaven whisked the clouds away) is a quotation from the 18th century Swedish writer Bengt Lidner, used as a metaphor for ”all sorrows were gone”.
This piece started in thinking about the reforestation of Iceland due to the climate change and ended in an investigation of how to use a whisk made of birch as a playing partner.
The whisk can be seen as something that literally whisks unpleasant things away, and it does so by producing a very specific sound. It is an everyday object, but the naked birch twigs gives it a somehow magical appearance. The piece is a collaborative work around whisks, sound, a changing environment and everyday magic. Ida Lundén

Nothing breaking the losing: necessary places (2021) is a live performance for four players with instruments and voices, audio playback drone, some active audience, objects, threads and scissors.
Nothing breaking the losing was originally commissioned by Sanne Krogh Groth in 2016 for first performance at the Royal Library of Denmark, and there have been several adaptations: inlcuding an outdoor version, a lecture-performance version and an ensemble version. This version is developed through a remote collaboration with Nordic Affect. The piece unfolds literally in the hands of both the main performers and the participating listeners, and it dismantles itself within the frame of the performance. So the difference between one version and another has almost as much to do with the involvement of the audience as it has to do with the main performers.  Juliana Hodkinson