What. Artist in Residence
When. October 2021
Where.  Jokkmokk
Organizers. Samernas utbilningscentrum, Jokkmokk Municipality, Resurscentrum för konst
Who. Lerin/Hystad artist duo Simon Torssell Lerin (b. 1985 in Sunnemo, Sweden) och Bettina Hvidevold Hystad (b. 1985 in Stord, Norway).
Website. lerinhystad.com

Since 2010, the duo has worked together in a borderland between visual art and experimental music. For the last 4 years the duo have focused on their ongoing project Electronic Flora, where they are working with recordings of bio-electrical signals from plants. They use sensors to capture electrical currents from within the plants. The plants use these electrical signals to communicate both internally and with other organisms. The signals from the plants are then transmitted through a modular synthesizer, letting the plants control notes, melodies and rhythms in the music.

The duo present their work in audio-visual installations, soundscapes where several plants are composing music and video together and the electronic pulse of the plants also determines how the videos are being edited. Bettina Hystad also studies the shapes and textures of the plants through botanical pencil drawings.

Lerin/Hystad’s work is an interaction with nature, where the duo is depending on the plants to make their music. At the same time we cannot hear the music of the plants without Lerin/Hystad’s sensors and synths acting as translators.
 
During their stay as Artist in Residence, Lerin/Hystad will study and explore the nature and flora around Jokkmokk and in Norrbotten. What can nature teach us about a place and can you learn about the history of a place by studying it’s plants? Through fieldwork in nature the duo will record the flora around Jokkmokk and create new musical compositions.
 
Lerin/Hystad have both studied at University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm and the Bergen Academy of Art and Design in Norway. They have participated in several solo and group exhibitions in both Sweden and abroad. They are also active as musicians and have toured in Europe, China and Japan.