Commissioned by City of Drammen, Norway

CONCEPT
Drammen, the River City. This work continues the folklore of Nøkken the Water Spirit, through the alchemy between arts and science to create tangible mechanisms that provide the public with hands-on explorations into the cultural and ecological layers of this site. The community itself is the sole operators and producers of the artwork’s content and context on a daily basis.
From our perspective, the most inspiring features of the site are:

• A functional giant River Harp that is the Ypsilon Bridge.
• The environmental scale fluid dynamo, inspired by Michael Faraday’s 1883 failed experiment at Waterloo Bridge. Here composed of the Ypsilon Bridge over Drammenselva, that runs through the Earth’s magnetic field.
• Drammenselva River is the home of Nøkken, the Norwegian water spirit who lures people to drowning with his beautiful music.

THE ARTWORK
The artwork has two components. Playing music for Nøkken, and eavesdrops on his music, with the intention to re-establish a harmonious relationship with him.

1) Music for Nøkken. Ypsilon Bridge is transformed into a functional Harp that plays music to Nøkken, powered by the public’s daily crossing of the bridge.
2) Eavesdropping on Nøkken. Using a modified Faraday’s experiment to eavesdrop on Nøkken’s music, to gain intimate understanding to his world.

“http://www.livinglenses.com/publicart/drammen/drammen1.html”: