Taking water as her focal point, artist Sonja Strange has taken over the old water tower to create the site-specific artwork Wake-up (song), which comprises a sound work set in the water tower, a video work in the museum, and a number of sculptural objects. The title Wake-up (song) is a reference to NASA’s use of socalled ‘wake-up songs’ on their missions. Astronauts often find their circadian rhythm greatly disruptedwhile in space, and so they are woken up by the earthbound control centre with a song. However, Strange’s sound work in the water tower is not a song, but rather the sound of variations in sea level as measured by SWARM satellites, which are used to analyse sea levelchanges. In this way, the work becomes Earth’s wakeup song to us.4 From the ceiling in the water tower, four glassy objects hang down, reminiscent of congealed water in almost alien-like formations.

These glass-like objects and the accompanying sound also appear in fictionalised versions in the video work shown at the museum, where we follow a female figure with gills that looks like something out of a sci-fi film. The filmed sequences were shot in Åmosen in Sorø,
the area in Denmark where the very first people settled – and also one of the first places which people had to leave when the water rose due to climate change. With this, the work draws obvious parallels to the present, specifically the massive climate problems humanity
faces today, including the many challenges associated with rising water levels.

Mathilde Helnæs - Exhibition Curator Sorø Art Museum

Wake-up (song), 2023

På museet:
Titel: ’Wake-up (song)’ Link til video: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/839451637/aed12124d1
Video; duration 00:10 min. 4k video. (link til video: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/839451637/aed12124d1)
Materialer i video: silke, genbrugsplast, silikone, silikone slanger til farmaceutisk brug, planterester fra Åmosen.
(de tre objekter fra videoen, udstillet sammen med videoen)
Titler:
‘Recipient I (Zachariae Isstrøm - Grønland): 78.9168231201364, -21.166623995246194’
‘Recipient II (Bute Helu - Kenya): 2.85366426219691, 39.84607457178604’
‘Recipient III (Dhaka - Bangladesh): 23.823438567246484, 90.3992143914394’
Materiale: genbrugsplast, silikone, silikone slanger til farmaceutisk brug, planterester fra Åmosen.
Mål: 45x35 cm
Værk i Vandtårnet:
Lydværk:
Titel: ’Wake-up (song)’
Længde: 00:08 min.
Lyd fra tyngdedata: Nikolai Linden-Vørnle DTU
Sonifikations-algoritmen
Ole Baltazar Andersen fra DTU Space har leveret et datasæt med målinger af hele jordens tyngdefelt. Målingerne

fra de fire lokationer, Sorø, Grønland, Kenya, Bangladesh, er blevet hævet ud af datasættet og puttet ind i sonifika-
tions-algoritmen. Algoritmen tager denne strøm af data, filtrerer den, strækker den i tid og frekvens, for til sidst at

ende ud med en lydfil som indeholder den originale data i en sonisk repræsentation.
Objekter installeret i vandtårnet:
Titel:

‘The Recipient’ (Åmosen - Sorø: 55.56067776023535, 11.597768933806645. Zachariae Isstrøm -Grøn-
land: 78.9168231201364, -21.166623995246194. Bute Helu - Kenya: 2.85366426219691, 39.84607457178604.

Dhaka-Bangladesh: 23.823438567246484, 90.3992143914394)
Materiale: genbrugsplast, silikone, silikone slanger til farmaceutisk brug, planterester fra Åmosen.
Mål: 70 x 40cm (Bestående af 4 objekter)
Lyd fra tyngdedata: Nikolai Linden-Vørnle DTU
Tyngdedata fra: Ole Baltazar Andersen Professor DTU SPACE Institut for Rumforskning og Rumteknologi
Geodæsi og Jordobservation
Sat i værk sammen med astrofysiker Michael Linden-Vørnle fra DTU Space
Videoværk filmet af: Ulrik Staal Strange Dinesen
Droneoptagelser af: Per Bovbjerg
Lokation; optaget i Maglebjerg Mose med tilladelse fra næstformand Rolf Lehrmann og formand Niels Hilker.
Hjælp under optagelser fra ejer af Mosehuset i Åmosen: Julie Søgaard