Sophie Durand

certain somethings arrive

2021, four channel sound installation 

I visited Paljassaare, Estonia 14 times last year, each visit I would collect all the seaglass on the beach and store the glass in envelopes; one envelope contains all the glass found on that day. In only certain somethings arrive four people met discuss the variables that need to be investigated in order to figure out from whence these pieces of glass may have came. They come together to discuss this with the understanding that:

It’s impossible for all waves to reach all corners of the sea’s frontiers. 

Nothing can travel everywhere. 

Nothing can travel everywhere so only specific somethings arrive.

Through the conversation they begin to situate a propositional understanding of how the glass might have moved within the system of the Baltic Sea and where the glass might have entered the water system. 

The work was produced during 5 scheduled zoom calls between me and 3 collaborators (the four voices that are heard in the installation) Shannon Calcott, Bronte Jones, Alistair Kennedy.  The dialogue is both scripted and improvised; improvised scenes developed through looking at pertinaent information together and analysing hown this information could be connected to the objective of the investigation; looking at what might contribute to an understanding of where the glass collected at Paljassaare might have come from. 

In the installation the voices become individual currents within the soundscape; scenes are played concurrently and each spoken moment aims to oscillate within the sonic system reflecting the way that sediments move within the sea.