Chambers in chambers (2025)

for 3 performers, electronics and audience with headphones

Commissioned by Klang Festival supported by the Norwegian Composers’ Fund

Premiered by Bastard Assignments june 10th, 2025

“In the Black Diamond library, you could embark on a sonic walk with headphones, guided by the four performers of Bastard Assignments. They were the focus of Chambers in Chambers, a sound work by Norwegian composer Martin Hirsti-Kvam. It consisted of recordings of various spaces packed into each headphone set. Public spaces, quiet spaces, noisy spaces – all spliced together and opened and closed by the performers. Again, the piece didn’t explain itself, and with the performers’ meticulous claps, single knocks on wooden blocks, and slow wandering through the large foyer, the atmosphere bordered on the sacred. Almost like visiting an unfamiliar religious ritual for thirty minutes…I fully appreciated the sonic impact of the contrasting sound images colliding in my ears. Shifts between vast and intimate spaces, changes in focus – it was all fascinating.”

Henrik Friis, Seismograf.dk