Tail of the Hen

Explore your ability to be present with someone at a distance

Tail of the Hen series, 2021

Voice 172 hertz

Voice 172 Hertz is the first artwork in the Tail of the Hen series. It takes you into a search for felt human presence, that you experience at distance, and that is mediated through the human voice. Like dark matter in physics, this felt presence and intimacy cannot be proven, grasped, nor directly studied.

To experience the artwork you will be asked to use your phone technology in a radically different way. Similar to how scientists descend into underground labs far away from the sun in order to study stars. Likewise you will be immersed into the paradox of intimacy and presence potentially taking place between you and another person: physically separated by space, each looking out through different windows, out of different perspectives on the world.

With your own voice as a vehicle, you descend through the ground. What you’ll experience depends on where you’re located, and what landscape or built structures are hiding below you.

The artwork is accessible to enter 24/7. From a distance you can enter the piece at the same time as someone you know. The app will ask you to share a unique code between each other in order to connect and experience the artwork together.

You can also enter the work at times when a portal will be opened internationally, for example during STRP 2021, in collaboration with Celsius Projects and Streaming Museum. Visitors can enter the artwork from home at set times to be randomly paired up with a stranger, somewhere on earth, or in space. If you’re lucky you connect with current astronauts at the International Space Station!

Credits

Tail of the Hen series, 2021

Lundahl & Seitl

Rachel Alexander: Collaborator and Dramaturgy

DVA Studio: Creative Technology partner

/ Head Developer: Micke Ring

Hara Alonso: Sound Composer

Emma Ward: Producer

Commissioned by STRP Eindhoven

Stockholm and London-based duo Lundahl & Seitl formed in 2003. They perform, teach, and play with choreography, VR, and architecture, and they create anti-disciplinary artwork as experiences. With a background in visual arts and choreography they discover immersive states as a philosophical tool to observe the boundaries and connections between the living, objects and technologies, places and environments. Their work is shown internationally at museums, biennales, and in site-specific public spaces.

Lundahl & Seitl are supported by The Swedish Arts Grants Committee and the International Program for Visual Artists (iaspis), Stockholm Stad and Kulturrådet Sweden / Swedish Arts Council.