Attendees of the Ultima Oslo festival took cover from the rainy September weather at venues that ranged from a railway underpass to a waste water purification plant to a mausoleum in the woods. These soundscapes often provided a physical refuge from the gloomy dampness, but simultaneously unsettled and destabilized aesthetic norms. Wading around town in my Norwegian wellies, I heard a thought-provoking spectrum of unusual sounds which, rather than simply marveling in their own unusualness, sought to convey political and social messages. The installations and performances were focused on the usefulness (whether environmental or political) of sound, and ranged from Éliane Radigue’s eerily quiet acoustic music to the ultrasound frequencies of rats to the trio Supersilent’s improvised, brash noise.
The Architecture of Experience
On Success Through Failure at the Ultima Oslo Festival
