Kristján Loðmfjörð | Konrad Korabiewski

Audio visual collaboration for 8 channels and 1 HD projector, 52 min. Supported by The Icelandic Visual Arts Fund | The Cultural Council of East Iceland | The Danish Arts Foundation | The Danish Composers Society | ZKM – Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe

NS-12 is audiovisual collaboration between the flmmaker Kristjan Loðmfjorð and the composer Konrad Korabiewski. Using the means of sound and image, NS-12 poetically portrays the fishing trawler Gullver based in Seyðisfjorður, East Iceland.

The trawler is a self-contained world; a space which functions both as workplace and as collective living arrangement, which is also personally and physically affective. For the people working on board the ship might be seen as a tool, but artistically it is perceived as a living organism, as a musical instrument triggering the senses, and as a visual landscape impressing with textures and colors. The constant sensation of motion from the heaviness and roughness of the rolling trawler conveys a state of confusion or reverie, like that triggered by seasickness.The ship itself is always in the foreground, with the life on board as the background.

Thus NS-12 captures the moment of an everyday situation applying an expressionistic approach for an experimental outcome. It communicates the human spirit, essential for the experience of the trawler at sea with the ceaseless sound and vibrations of the engine.

The original soundscape for the work is realized as a contemporary composition where all the sonic material is sourced from reality, whereas the imagery is mainly based of still-life recordings where visual perception shines above realism. Together the two mediums explore the complete body of the trawler as a visually intriguing labyrinth, where each room has its own way of carrying the sound from the engine.

The complete work including sound and image is purely feld recorded, accompanied with voiceover recordings performed by the Seyðisfjorður Church Choir and the fourth (and Europe’s frst female) president of Iceland, Mrs. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir. Recordings on board Gullver NS-12 took place during the period of September 2012 – December 2013. In 2014 NS-12 was nominated for the Marl Video Art Award in Germany.

Methodology:
In the research process, the artists went out on three tours on the trawler to capture sound and image in various seasons and weather conditions. The machinery and the captain’s diaries were also examined, extracting relevant texts. These transcripts were integrated into the final piece as subtitled and as read text, as they are very evocative and give an irrational sense of the trawler’s path: such as the ship’s state examination while in the dockyard, weather reports from out on open sea, injuries on board, and mechanical breakdowns.

8 channel installation:
A sound and video installation preferably presented by itself in a separate exhibition room. This 8 audio channel installation configuration, referring to the 8 cylinders of the trawler’s engine, aims at conveying the physical presence of the trawler’s space.

Credit list:
Phonography and composition by Konrad Korabiewski
Manuscript and cinematography by Kristján Loðmfjörð
Sound engineered at Institute for Music and Acoustics ZKM – Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe by Konrad Korabiewski with Anton Kossjanenko
Voiceovers by: Mrs. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir & The Seyðisfjörður Church Choir

Download detailed work description with exhibition history as pdf

The bilingual (German-English) book of the audiovisual collaboration NS-12 between filmmaker Kristján Loðmfjörð and composer Konrad Korabiewski came out from Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin, earlier this spring of 2019. This visual meditation on life on a fishing trawler includes Kristín Ómarsdóttir’s “It Took So Long to Invent the Woman,” her essay and extensive, playfully serious interview with Mrs.Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Iceland’s fourth president and Europe’s first female president. Other texts include Anna Friz’s “The Ruminations and Reveries of an Icelandic Trawler” and Daniel Canty’s “Gold Maker.” The black-and-white photographs, sketch, and wonderful cover designed by John and Evelyn Grzinich give a sense of the video installation that the book is born from.

English: https://www.hatjecantz.de/ns-12-7325-1.html
German: https://www.hatjecantz.de/ns-12-7325-0.html

You’ll find more information in the press release. High-res press images can be downloaded from publisher website.