ANNA LIDBERG

"Sleeping fountain"
Sound installation at Mariatorget, October 2008.

  The fountain at the noisy Mariatorget in Stockholm is turned of at the first of October. Since, a sound which otherwise partially mask the constant sound of traffic from Hornsgatan disappears from the place. The fountain ("Tors fiske" by Anders Wissler 1903) in itself has quite a hard sound, the sound of falling water. I think that a softer sound of water would be more pleasing. For a day I constructed a sound installation in the fountain. By hiding speakers in it I got the sound to be a bit vague, as it bounces against the stone edges. When one wanders round the fountain one can hear the sound of rippling water strongly or vaguely depending on where one stands or sit. But the sound is heard from all directions near the fountain, as if it came from within it. It seems like the fountain is in a doze, resting over winter. This also brings back the memory of how it behaves in the summer, wild and lively.