Echoes of Icebergs and Memories


My field recording experience of Icebergs at Jökulsárlón, Iceland inspired me to create this piece. The concept behind this work is that the quality of materials, humans, and nature in the world changes every moment. I created 3 tape loops. The 1st tape loop was my memories of a trip to Portugal before Iceland. During the trip, I recorded the sound of passing moments with my compact cassette tape player. The 2nd tape loop was my field recording of icebergs at Jökulsárlón. The 3rd tape loop was comprised of a particular unidentifiable sound recorded during my stay in Iceland. I then attached pieces of sandpaper to objects on the table and on the inside of the cassette players to degrade the magnetic tape. This would cause the quality of the loops to always degrade and change. I put the cassette tape players apart from each other on the table, with their magnetic tapes crossing. There would be far away from each other but, because of the accidental forces of nature, sometimes they would intersect, rub against each other and create new sounds.

Tape Loops, Cassette Tape Players, Rocks, Objects, Pieces of Sand Paper, Speakers, 2021

SIM Seljavegur Residency, Reykjavík, Iceland

Photos and video by Shusuke Nakamura

https://www.sim-residency.info/SIM-Projects/Echoes-of-Icebergs-and-Memories