Joel Cahen (UK): Wet Sounds

An underwater deep listening experience in Kuopio Swimming Pool!

In Wet Sounds, the pool is transformed into a live resonating music space. Sound travels 4.5 times quicker in water than in air and is perceived by the bones and the inner ear. Underwater the sound is clear, immediate and intimate. The water surface is a threshold between two different listening experiences and two sound worlds. The deeper you dive the richer the sound. Or you can choose only to lie back with your head on the water surface.

Wet Sounds is open from 11 am. to 4 pm. At 11.30 am, 2 pm. and 3 pm, for 45 minutes, Joel Cahen plays a live electroacoustic composition – abstract and surreal for underwater deep listening. The rest are the listening gallery sessions.

The listening galleries have been curated from sound artists worldwide in three themes – Water, Audio Cinema and Reverse. Some of the artists are Hildegard Westerkamp, John Wynne, Slavek Kwi, Tomoko Sauvage and many more. Their work will be played throughout the day.

The art work can be experience free of charge but the Kuopio Swimming Hall entrance fee is 4,00-5,70€. Take your swimming suit and towel with you and jump into the pool!

Joel Cahen (UK)

Joel Cahen is a London based artist with a background in sound design and music for stage and screen productions as well as new media. His current interests interrogate the affect of sound in various spaces (physical, cultural and the body). Since 2008, he has been performing worldwide with Wet Sounds. Cahen’s work has been presented for example at AV Festival, Helsinki Festival, The Royal Neurological Hospital, and various symposia, music and art festivals worldwide.