Between Strata Pulses and Resonance: Traces of a Millennium of Icelandic Stratigraphy is a sound installation that employs acoustic vibration and geological materials to narrate the material transformation of Icelandic strata and the ecological chain of cause and effect accumulated over the course of a millennium. The project continues my ongoing exploration of environmental concerns and sonic media initiated during my Master degree graduation project at Goldsmiths, University of London, while further extending the sonic investigations presented in my interdisciplinary work for the Kaohsiung Award. Here, sound is approached not merely as representation but as a physical force and experimental medium.
The project is grounded in geological field research conducted across Iceland. Focusing on the causal relationships underlying soil transformation within the extreme environments of the North Atlantic, I translate environmental recordings and geological observations collected from multiple Icelandic locations into control sources for a multichannel sound composition. Through tactile transducers mounted beneath four minimalist platforms, low-frequency signals—structured through both scientific data and compositional processes—are sequentially transmitted into symbolic geological materials representing four significant Icelandic landscapes. Sound-induced vibration becomes a visible agent, transforming the physical causes of geological change into perceptible material movement.
Rather than producing dramatic kinetic effects, the resonant energy is deliberately restrained within a subtle physical threshold appropriate to the exhibition space. Sands and volcanic aggregates of varying grain sizes and colours exhibit continuous micro-vibrations and gradual displacement. From a geophysical perspective, soil degradation, rock erosion, and sediment pulverisation are themselves processes of energy transfer through waves and frequencies. Sound therefore functions as a temporal medium, allowing geological weathering spanning a thousand years to manifest as a living, breathing timescale unfolding in real time.
The four platforms are arranged according to their actual geographical positions in Iceland. Their materials, colours, grain sizes, and movement collectively construct a twelve-minute sonic composition divided into four movements, each lasting three minutes.
The first movement, Möðrudalsöræf Plateau, traces the historical origins of environmental transformation. The scars left by Viking-era deforestation and sheep grazing are translated into the slow weathering of fine ochre sand, reconstructing the gradual transition from fertile soil to barren desertification. Resonance is primarily driven by recordings of forestry machinery and timber harvesting.
The second movement, Grindavík Rift, shifts toward geological tension preceding catastrophe. The subterranean forces of tectonic rupture and volcanic intrusion are embodied through the muted friction of coarse basalt granules, revealing the emergence of inorganic sediment from beneath the Earth's crust. Low-frequency seismic recordings serve as the principal resonant source.
The third movement, Mýrdalssandur Plain, marks the climax of climatic feedback. Extreme winds and glacial meltwater converge, forcing coarse volcanic sand into irregular physical migration. These subtle displacements embody soil liquefaction and landscape collapse under accelerating climate change. Resonance is driven primarily by low-frequency recordings of black sandstorms striking architectural surfaces.
Following the abrupt silence created by a simulated power outage during the storm, the fourth movement, Dyngjusandur, enters a state of atmospheric sublimation. All four platforms continue vibrating at minimal amplitude while the geological materials suggest the complete pulverisation of land into airborne particulate matter. Simultaneously, an omnidirectional loudspeaker positioned at the centre disperses recordings of Icelandic wind throughout the exhibition space, evoking an atmospheric condition that transcends local geography and permeates the entire landscape.
This work constructs a multisensory landscape through the spatial directionality of multichannel sound and the time-compressed narratives embedded within geological materials. The omnidirectional loudspeaker envelops the exhibition with wind and airborne sand, suggesting an inescapable environmental field, while directional loudspeakers positioned around the four landscapes articulate site-specific narratives. Together, these acoustic systems transform subtle physical vibrations into a meditation on ecological causality. Through the tension between audible space and barely perceptible material movement, the installation reflects on the mute, suffocating, and irreversible geological suffering produced by centuries of human intervention and contemporary climatic feedback, inviting viewers to reconsider their capacity to perceive and empathise with slow, microscopic forms of environmental trauma.
