Land of the Unknown

Land of the Unknown is an art video installation created by filmmaker Evelyn Frankel and composer Micaela Hoppe.

It is an almost dreamlike depiction of human search and life choices that is both inspired by and staged among smoking piles of sawdust and chimneys in the factory environment at Rottneros Bruk outside Sunne. The work has grown out of an intuitive artistic collaboration where film and music have been allowed to cross-fertilize each other.

The film, or rather the films, are shown on three separate screens that form an audiovisual space. Three parallel actions are woven together into one. The music consists of soprano saxophone, solo violin, string orchestra, choir and percussion.

The work is 9 minutes long and is played in a loop, with music via headphones for two persons in audience.

The work premiered in 2016 and was shown at Värmland Museum from March 5 to April 7, and then went on tour around Värmland.
See link to Unknown Land at Värmland Museum.

Eventually, the installation with the three TV screens arrived at Rottneros Bruk where they were set up and filmed with the factory in the background. We call the recording Land of the Unknown at the Factory.

How the project developed...

It started with two different ideas that became one. Evelyn Frankel had observed the beautiful condensation as it moved up from Rottneros Bruk. Micaela Hoppe, for her part, had a living concert piece in the back of her mind with a solo soprano saxophone and string orchestra. Something that developed into the independent piece of music Till klarhet (eng. Insight).

Terra incognita

In a slowly progressing process, Terra incognita was first created. (Latin for unknown land.)

A part of an early version, with film from Rottneros Mill, with soprano saxophonist Johnny Hedlund and the string music produced in a studio program.

Work-in-progress

In April 2014, Evelyn and Micaela presented their film- and music projects during the Frankel & Hoppe exhibition. Land of the Unknown was shown as a work in progress with projection on three large cinema screens and was received wonderfully by visitors. The music was composed partly of recordings of Till klarhet (eng. Insight), which was then further developed with sounds in studio programs and solo violin.

The art video installation Unknown Land was installed in the then Region Värmland, Karlstad in May 2016. (Evelyn Frankel is seen.)

This is how our idea finally landed

The original idea was a concert performance with a solo soprano saxophonist with string musicians and a conductor. Three large cinema screens would surround the musicians and the audience would get both a sound- and visual experience, where the music and the film in the present would reinforce each other.

This proved difficult to achieve in practice and the project eventually landed in a smaller and more manageable format with the three TV screens and the music recorded, to be listened to through headphones for two seated spectators/listeners.

A recording was made in the studio at the Ingesund College of Music. For this version, the music had been further developed into a more comprehensive work of its own. With the basis in Till klarhet, in addition to string musicians and soprano saxophone, there was now also a solo violin, percussion and choir.

Here, Land of the Unknown is shown in the upper hall at the Palladium cinema, Arvika.