Newton Red (Ton C-65,4 Hz)

Newton Red (Ton C-65,4 Hz) , 2021

Mixed Media
300 x 120 cm

Still

Still, 2021

Mixed Media
148 x 40 x 40 cm

In the spatial installation Still (2021), an acrylic bowl filled with water is illuminated from below. Two generated frequencies cause the water to vibrate. The reflection on the ceiling makes this vivid movement of sound waves visible. In composing two frequencies, Pétursson creates moments in which sound waves seem to freeze for a second, just to immediately turn again into a vibrating movement. This is what it could look like if we could halt time.

Logg Loops

Logg Loops, 2020

Mixed Media

In Logg Loops, Pétursson focuses on the gatherings of old radio broadcast material from the 1980s, once preserved by Icelandic law. Authorities quickly came to realize that it is an utterly hopeless task to collect every radio broadcast there is, and discontinued their task. And here, these reels have turned into a cement of sorts, after years of closed storage. If their murmur can be played at all, they will only be played once. After that, the tape is ruined. Their sound is preserved, like a modern-day fossil.

Centre

Centre, 2005/2020

Mixed Media
79 x 12 x 20 cm
Unique

For this work, Pétursson found beneath the Snæfellsjökull Glacier, which symbolically represents the entrance into the earth, a lava stone. He inserted a microphone within its center mass and used a FM radio transmission to bring out the sound inaudible under natural circumstances, perceptible and thus conveys a feeling of materiality and nature’s life of its own, perhaps coming from the innermost part of the earth. He utilizes the mythical story in Jules Verne’s book A Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Here we find Professor Otto Lidenbrock as the tale’s central figure, an eccentric German scientist along with his nephew Axel and their Icelandic guide Hans going inside the volcano Snæfellsjökull and then encountering many adventures, including prehistoric animals and natural hazards. They eventually surface in southern Italy, by an active Stromboli Volcano.

Nodes

Nodes, 2019

Mixed Media
250 x 15 x 14 cm
Unique

Relatives Aluminium-Brass

Relatives Aluminium-Brass, 2019

Mixed Media
100 x 66 cm, each
Unique

Relatives is part of a series of works consisting of metal plates made of different materials such as brass, copper and aluminium that are put together in versatile combinations of two or more. Relatives unites two metal rectangles, more precisely aluminium and copper plates, fixated in parallel onto a wall in front of an amplifier which distributes information generated by sound files in form of vibrations through them. Petursson measures the quality of those metal plates relating to their specific thickness, density, size and weight . He then feeds them with a frequency of oscillation evoking them to drone on a certain amplitude coordinated to their inherent characteristics. Since Petursson fathoms the exact level of impulse needed for the most minimal volume to activate the fluctuations, the latter can be considered as the consumption and simultaneous output of itself. Not only are they moved by and within themselves,moreover they are intended to trigger self-reflection and - perception to the beholders. Relatives thereby implies the essential message of life that is the movement of a form to a given time and in a particular space. What augments this confrontation with the individual itself is the mirror-like appearance the metal plates pledge whilst not providing the usual portrayal the viewer would expect. Resonating not only within itself but also according to the frequency of the adjacent plate, one metal blank eventually fertilises the other, hence consequently illustrates social relations in the space of human togetherness.

Relatives Aluminium-Copper

Relatives Aluminium-Copper, 2019

Mixed Media
100 x 66 cm, each
Unique

Relatives is part of a series of works consisting of metal plates made of different materials such as brass, copper and aluminium that are put together in versatile combinations of two or more. Relatives unites two metal rectangles, more precisely aluminium and copper plates, fixated in parallel onto a wall in front of an amplifier which distributes information generated by sound files in form of vibrations through them. Petursson measures the quality of those metal plates relating to their specific thickness, density, size and weight . He then feeds them with a frequency of oscillation evoking them to drone on a certain amplitude coordinated to their inherent characteristics. Since Petursson fathoms the exact level of impulse needed for the most minimal volume to activate the fluctuations, the latter can be considered as the consumption and simultaneous output of itself. Not only are they moved by and within themselves, moreover they are intended to trigger self-reflection and - perception to the beholders. Relatives thereby implies the essential message of life that is the movement of a form to a given time and in a particular space. What augments this confrontation with the individual itself is the mirror-like appearance the metal plates pledge whilst not providing the usual portrayal the viewer would expect. Resonating not only within itself but also according to the frequency of the adjacent plate, one metal blank eventually fertilises the other, hence consequently illustrates social relations in the space of human togetherness.

Square Sphere

Square Sphere, 2016

Mixed Media
26x26x60 cm
Unique

Infra-Supra

Infra-Supra, 2014

Installation at Listeria, Medical Museum in Seltjarnarnes, Iceland.

Infra-Supra, has a long, shallow pool of water on the ground with three equidistantly placed small speakers just above the water’s surface. The speakers repetitively deliver the equivalent of three hertz of sound onto the water below and these recurring sound waves generate expanding concentric circles in the pool. Via strategically placed lighting, the patterns on the water then project onto the wall in the form of shadows and create a fluid, animated dance, which is reflected again on the water, resulting in a quasiinfinite interfusion of below (infra) and above (supra). The central wave pattern is mirrored symmetrically on the wall, creating a billowing flame-like shape that swells and deflates. At times all three speakers pulse at once, causing three sets of intersecting patterns; at other times, one or two speakers remain silent and the wall above them remains empty. To the visitor, the three-hertz sound waves register as a barely audible humming and are more felt as a pulse than heard. This exact frequency mimics that of the brain in a restful state, and, together with the visuals, provides the essentials for a meditative trance.

Traps

Traps, 2006

Mixed Media
80 x 60 x 12 cm

The boxes are thought of as a monument of certain wavebands in their surroundings. One could also call them ´sound-traps´ that capture the frequen-cies from the environment. Each box will respond to a certain wave or frequency and all of them will be measured and will be allocated their own frequency. This is similar to the body of instru-ments like a guitar or a fiddle, these instruments respond to certain frequency best. The boxes hang together in pairs on the wall with the openings facing each other with 2 cm between them. When the waves get mixed up in the between-space they make another ´in between´ frequency, an inter-ference that makes the third tone. As an example of this: Box 1. The frequency measures 48hz Box 2. The frequency measures 36hz Box 3. The fre-quency measures 12hz - which is the difference between these two frequencies. This activity is barely heard but it can be sensed if one places the ear against the split.

Traps

Traps, 2006

Mixed Media
80 x 60 x 12 cm

Corners

Corners, 2000

Mixed Media