Island Eye Island Ear

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In 1974, composer David Tudor (1926-1996) conceived an environmental concert, Island Eye Island Ear, which would reveal the natural elements existing on the island of Knavelskär in the Stockholm archipelago. Tudor, working with Billy Klüver (1927-2004) and Julie Martin (b. 1938) of Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), invited artists Fujiko Nakaya (b. 1933), Jaqueline Matisse (1931-2021) and Margaretha Åsberg (b. 1939) to collaborate on the project.

In order to enhance the sound elements of the island, Tudor proposed to place parabolic antennas around the island that would create narrow beams of sound, in two configurations: two antennas facing each other so that a sound beam is produced between them, and second, an antenna aimed at a stone outcropping that would scatter the sound into the environment around and above the area. These antennas would be fed by sounds that Tudor planned to record at different places on the same island in different seasons of the year.

The other artists would work with the visual elements of the island. Nakaya would create pure water fog sculptures at different places on the island that responded to temperature, air currents and humidity; Matisse would create kites with very long tails, whose movement would respond to the winds high above the island, and Margaretha Åsberg proposed ideas for dancers using mirrors to direct visitors’ attention to the physical elements on the island.

E.A.T. supported the project by finding the technical solutions needed to realize the concept. Over the next five years Tudor and E.A.T. pursued the possibility of producing the concert on various islands; Knavelskär in Sweden, Bluff and Boulder Islands in New York State, and Yeo Island in the St. Lawrence Seaway. Island Eye Island Ear was never realized during David Tudor’s lifetime. Until nowthis year: In 2023 North Norwegian Art Centre and LIAF 2024 partnered with the collective SIAF LAB. and You Nakai, on one of two different interpretations of Island Eye Island Ear; one was developed for Kamome Island in Esashi, Hokkaido; the other for Svolvær in Lofoten. Earlier this year, the Kamome version IEIE, Reflected: Phase 4 Virtual Ground was presented in a 360 VR-theater during the Sapporo International Art Festival, Hokkaido in Japan.

“I think that wind is wonderful to use in music. I have an environmental project I have been thinking about for more than ten years. I don’t know when it will be realized. It uses fog and a sound beam created by two antennae faced to one another. If you are here, you will hear it very loudly, if you are there, you will hear it very weak. The wind transforms the sound. If it is really strong in one place, the wind comes and the harmonic content of the sound is displaced. The wind displaces the fog, dissipates it, and reforms it elsewhere. It is the same thing for the kites”. David Tudor
Interview, Revue & Corrigèe #81, spring 1989

“I wouldn’t want to miss it myself. I’ve always felt that about this project. Ever since we tried things out on an actual island, I already knew then. I thought it was so gorgeous. I mean the experience I had in sound and in watching the fog, they were so beautiful that I knew that I didn’t want to miss doing this. I mean, if it doesn’t happen, there’s going to be a hole in my astral body”. David Tudor Interview with Billy Klüver on November 24, 1978

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Island Eye Island Ear, Lofoten 2024 was performed at the south-western part of Svinøya in Svolvær during the opening weekend of LIAF 2024. 

Island Eye Island Ear was originally conceived by David Tudor (1926-1996) in 1974 for Knavelskär, Stockholm together with Fujiko Nakaya (b. 1933), Jaqueline Matisse (1931-2021) and Margaretha Åsberg (b. 1939) and producers Billy Klüver (1927-2004) and Julie Martin (b. 193) of Experiments in Art and Technology, New Jersey. 

Island Eye Island Ear, Lofoten 2024:

Artists
Sound: SIAF LAB.; Kei Komachiya, Norimichi Hirakawa, You Nakai and Jacob Kirkegaard
Choreography for Mirrors: Margaretha Åsberg
Kite tails: Robert Monnier and Gill Eatherly, Jackie Matisse Estate

Ultrasonic Directional Speakers
SIAF LAB.;. Kei Komachiya, Katsuya Ishida, Daisuke Funato, Norimichi Hirakawa, guest curator Hiroko Kimura-Myokam, and documentation by Hirofumi Nakamoto

Curators
Marianne Hultman, director, North Norwegian Art Centre
Kjersti Solbakken, Lofoten International Art Festival 2024

Producer
Berte Tungodden Ynnesdal, North Norwegian Art Centre

Advisory Board
Julie Martin, Experiments in Art and Technology
Phil Edelstein, Composers Inside Electronics

Island Eye Island Ear; Lofoten 2024 has received generous support from Nordic Culture Point, EU-Japan Fest, Bodø 2024, Sasakawa Foundation and the Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo.