Sjøradio

Music and dance performance inspired by the sea and experienced through radio waves

SJØRADIO (Sea Radio) is a performance installation by Tori Lawrence + Co for which Passepartout Duo created sound design, a musical soundtrack, and a live performance, presented at the gallery of USF in Bergen (November 2023). USF is a historic sardine factory transformed into a large and diverse contemporary culture house, and is situated in the center of Bergen overlooking the Norwegian Sea. The project included a new digital dance film by Tori Lawrence, projected onto two large scale wooden screens, Super 8mm dance films within wall-mounted viewers, and Passepartout Duo's second edition of the instrument called Aural Record, to accompany a live dance performance. Through a week working together the sound concept explored acoustic feedback, radio waves, and electromagnetic fields.

The central focus of the exhibition is the concept of tuning into the sea. In the performance audiences outside of the gallery could watch through antique “opera glasses” (designed by Seth Wenger) as Ellie Goudie-Averill kayaked out into the fjord, broadcasting buoy-mounted sound devices to small personal radio receivers.

Thanks to the local radio expert Øystein Ask the show was broadcasted one time through the local FM radiowaves and onto the internet. Norway is the only country in the world that has totally switched off its FM radio services in 2017, compelling all Norwegians to turn to DAB+. That meant that for a short period, the only station available was the sea.

Collaborators

Choreographer/Filmmaker: Tori Lawrence
Musicians/Composers: Passepartout Duo
Dancers: Ellie Goudie-Averill, Ainsley Tharp, Nathaniel Moore, Anthony Pucci, Flannery McAdam, Marie Haas, Emily Climer
Installation Design: Seth Wenger, Passepartout Duo, Tori Lawrence
Clothing design: Bregje Cox, Mark King

ABOUT Tori Lawrence + Co.

Founded in 2010 and directed by choreographer/filmmaker Tori Lawrence, TL+Co. is a group of collaborating dancers, musicians, filmmakers, and designers mostly based in NYC and San Francisco. The company creates immersive site-specific dances, interdisciplinary performance installations, and dance films that explore the relationship among body, landscape, and architecture. Their projects inspire an imaginative and sustainable way of looking at, thinking about, and using space.

With the support of

Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder (LKV), DansiT, USF Verftet, Bergen Dansesenter