Espen Sommer Eide – Selected Works


Vertical Studies

(2016-2023) Dark Ecology Journey, Sonic Acts, Borealis Festival, Paviljong Våtmark

An ongoing collaboration between Espen Sommer Eide and Signe Lidén. 

In their collaborations, Lidén and Eide investigate how sound is shaped by and resonates in various environments. The first iteration of the Vertical Studies, the critically acclaimed 2016 performance Altitude and History was staged in the hills above Nikel, Russia, as part of the Dark Ecology journey. Leading the audience on a performative field trip, they delved into the connections between wind and sound at various altitudes and its connections vertically to layers of local history. Local history was represented by material gathered through organising the Nikel Sound History Club. 

Sound movement through the atmosphere is affected by the wind profile, the open landscape and the winter temperatures, which can bend the wave front, causing sounds to be heard where they normally would not, or vice versa, creating acoustic shadows. Building upon this archive of altitudinal sounds from Nikel and other areas visited by the artists, their next work Acoustic Shadows and Boundary Reflections centred on a new model of verticality. As an imaginative figure the artists experiment with sorting their archive of sounds by height. From the bottom of the oceans, to the planetary boundary layer with land formations and weather shaping the sounds, up through the clouds to the outer atmosphere. The work traces sounds and soundings from a specific place to a more universal sense of space. Various locations (Sint Jansklooster watertower, Fjell Festning) were in 2017 re-imagined into models of the atmosphere to study this material further. 

A short video document from the Borealis festival event at Fjell festning 2017.

More info in Norwegian about Vertical Studies at Forfatternes klimaaksjon her




Photos by Pieter Kiers





Altitude and History from Espen Sommer Eide on Vimeo.


by Signe Lidén and Espen Sommer Eide

a commissioned work for Dark Ecology Journey 2016

documented by Friday Milk, Sebastian Frisch and Espen Sommer Eide



edited by Espen Sommer Eide

sound by Signe Lidén and Espen Sommer Eide

thank you Sonic Acts, Hilde M. Methi, Maria Rusinovskaya and the Dark Ecology crew

supported by Norsk Kulturråd




Some new dark ecology microphones...








Wind recording sessions at Fjell outside Bergen and Bloemendal outside Amsterdam. Preparing for two large scale performance/installation works early 2017 for the Borealis Festival and Sonic Acts festival. More info to come.




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