Solkreds: a permanent sound installation at Dodekalitten


Sokreds (Sun Circle) is a permanent, site-specific sound installation created for the monument Dodekalitten at Kragenæs on the Danish island of Lolland. When completed, some time around the year 2025, the monument will consist of 12 megaliths carved out of solid granite by the Danish sculptor Thomas Kadziola. They stand on a hill overlooking the sea in a circle 30 meters in diameter, 7-9 meters tall, and weighing up to 50 tons each. There will be 12 permanent loudspeakers and two subwoofers hidden beneath granite sitting stones. For now there are 10 megaliths, 5 of which have been sculpted.

Solkreds is a work in progress conceived more as a system than a piece of music in the traditional sense. The first version of the work, Solkreds 1, started playing on October 11th, 2018. The music is created as a continuous ongoing process by a computer program. In the first version the sound came from four speakers. In June, 2019 six new speakers and a subwoofer were installed beneath six new sitting stones.

In the current version, the work alternates between an active state and a silent state. Most often the music will be active for a period of 6-20 minutes and silent for a period of 2-5 minutes at a time, but the durations vary and are unpredictable. The sound consists of twelve electronic voices, three heard from each speaker. The twelve voices follow each their own independent progression, but they also relate to each other to create gradually changing harmonies. The mood can be anything from relaxed to disturbing. The harmonies develop gradually over time without repeating. Dodekalitten is an open work that can be interpreted and experienced in many different ways. The idea behind Solkreds 1 was to create a gradually changing sonic backdrop to the monument.

Solkreds 1 starts playing daily at sunrise and stops at sundown. Tide levels in the local harbor influence the level of activity. The computer system uses data with sunrise times, sunset times and tide levels to control musical processes. In the summer, during the bright nights in Denmark, the work can be heard from very early in the morning to late in the evening. Dodekalitten never closes and admission is free. There is parking nearby for the disabled, but all other visitors should take the lovely 15-minute walk through the forest to find the monument.

See https://www.visitlolland-falster.com/ln-int/dodekalith-gdk951486 and www.dodekalit.dk