In this room of the exhibition you will find four artefacts, all relating to the importance of sounds as a method of navigation for the Nordic Forest Farmers:
A soundscape of the forest farmer’s environment (artefact A), a recording of a forest farmer, navigating by sound (artefact B), an ethnographic mapping of the sounds (artefact C) and a lyrical poem (artefact D).
Before continuing, we ask you to do the following – or something that suits you and your body:
Cover your ears with the flat palm of your hands. Close your eyes and listen for what feels like the time it takes a leaf to fall to the ground from the top of a beech tree.
Now…
1. Imagine a forest-like field and a field-like forest. Sense the scenery.
2. Recall the sense of getting caught in a wave and giving in to the force.
3. Imagine standing in the middle of a wide field. You make a loud, high-pitched sound.
How far are the human and non-human beings of the field able to hear your voice?
Please scroll to examine the artefacts.
Find the next door or return to the museum hall below.
- Artefact A
- Artefact B
- Artefact C
- Artefact D
Artefact A
The soundscape stems from a recent research project between a small group of ethnographers and forest farmers. The soundscape portrays the forest farmers’ experience of their surroundings. Listen to the sound of a woman passing through a cold and windy scenery of noisy machines, bubbling brooks, calls of birds and distant shepherds [kulning].
Materials: Sounds recorded in different landscapes. The Middle spotted woodpecker was first recorded by Lars Adler Krogh and shared on www.xeno-canto.org – recording number (XC215636), and the Wood Warbler is first recorded by Anders Westman, shared on www.xeno-canto.org – recording number (XC611591).
Artefact B
This auditory is one of the earliest recordings of forest farmers navigating the remote forest of Danstrup, situated close to Hellebaek – the epicenter of the Great Northern Intra-Gentry Strife. The area has long been marked by the aftermath of the strife, and the sounds were recorded long before small-scale intra-gentry relations began in the more southern areas, such as Stokkerup. The recording enfolds the few minutes that the ethnographer, recording the sounds, could keep up with the forest farmer.
Materials: Same recordings as Artefact A.
Artefact C
These ethnographic notes map the sounds presented in the audio file above. The excerpt of the ethnographers notes, published in 1690, depict an asymmetrical relationship between the ethnographer and the forest farmers. While the article presents a limited knowledge of the forest farmers, the ethnographer’s university stamp “Knowledge is most” [Kunnskap er mest] is indicative of the concurrent belief in knowledge production as an end that allows all means.
Materials: Printed and stamped on wove paper.
Artefact D
In the ethnographers field-diary, a hand-written note of lyrics was found. The lyrics tell the story of the experiment of 51, in which 22 children of forest farmers were removed from their homes. The lyrics also present what seems like a travel guide with different signifiers indicating points of navigation. The signifiers are mostly plants and herbs, reflecting their importance to the forest farmers.
Materials: Graphite pencil on wove paper.
