The National Nordic Museum presents FLÓÐ (Flood) by Jónsi (Jón Þór Birgisson), lead singer of the world-famous Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. Created specifically for the Museum, the artwork is the focus of Jónsi’s first museum exhibition in the United States. The exhibition highlights the natural connections between the coastal cities of Seattle and Reykjavik, which became sister cities in 1986. Changing environmental conditions within the gallery will engage the visitors’ senses of hearing, sight, and smell to transport them to the ocean.
Composed for the installation, Jónsi’s mellifluous music plays through speakers that engulf the room with spatialized surround sound. This audio installation, augmented by a choir composition and field recordings, simulates the experience of a wave traveling the length of the gallery. The scent of seaweed harvested from both the Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans has been tinctured and distilled for disbursement through the room. The darkened gallery filled with mist and fog engages the audience’s inner visualization, while a thin strip of light overhead moves with the sound wave.
This exhibition is curated by Leslie Anne Anderson, Director of Collections, Exhibitions, and Programs, National Nordic Museum.
WARNING: This exhibition uses haze machines, strobing light, aerosolized organic tinctures, loud noises, and periods of low visibility, please take precautions if you experience asthma, epilepsy, and/or any other health conditions that may be affected. The haze emitted into the gallery contains a mixture of water and glycol derivatives. In people with asthma and airways hyper-reactivity, the irritant effect of short-term exposure to water-based fog (or haze) machines – particularly when the chemical glycol is used – could trigger acute asthma symptoms including cough, wheeze, chest tightness and shortness of breath.
