Borderline

Borderline opening. Photo: Bernd Uhlig

A three-channel sound installation, transmitting one Muslim, one Christian and one Jewish prayer through outdoor speakers. This audio work interweaves the different sonic “surfaces” of voice, melody and language.

Siri Hermansen invites the listener to a sensory experience: the resonant texture of the three prayers provide a moment of introspection and insight into the multifaceted cultural landscape of the Black Sea.
Duration: 9 minutes, repeated

Outdoor prayer in Norway

It is a Muslim tradition to transmit prayers from the minaret of the Mosque to reach its community. In Norway, Muslim outdoor praying has been the cause of debates touching upon democratic foundations such as freedom of religion and freedom of expression. The practice is now forbidden in Norway.

Practice in Istanbul inspired

The idea was conceived in Istanbul when Siri Hermansen was visiting The Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque, during a SEAS date with Dmytro Bogomazov. It was her first visit to Istanbul and she was impressed by the sound of prayers echoing across the city. Borderline was developed in Tromsø, the artist’s former hometown and reworked in Oslo. The prayers are sung and spoken by the imam of the Blue Mosque, a female protestant Christian priest from Norway and a cantor of the Great Synagogue in Stockholm.

Hermansen wanted to state that regardless of country borders or continents, ethnic belonging, class or age, or whether you are a woman and a man, religion gives hope and security to millions of people throughout the world.  The Borderline speakers are mounted in a public space such as a square, usually in a concealed way so that they create an ‘invisible triangle of sound.’  The public listeners can hear similarity and contrast but the overall effect is one of interaction and contemplation.

Audience reactions to the piece were some of the most emphatic that any of the SEAS’s works received.  In public spaces, residents grow accustomed to intrusive visual images such as advertising and video screens, but undirected sound and song is unusual.  Reactions were often hostile and dismissive (see the SEAS Gothenburg event description) and there were complaints about noise pollution – even in the centre of loud, busy cities.  In Odessa and Varna the project also attracted the displeasure of the Police! In Skegness the project was presented in a Band Stand in a Rose Garden and attracted a respectful audience.

Hermansen was assisted by SEAS Advisor and curator Marith Hope.

Borderline by Siri Hermanse