The River

We aim to provide the widest possible access to our art installation The River, including:

• an audio track of the installation's introductory and summary text
• a combination of beanbag and bench seating
• having staff on hand to assist with any other needs or queries

Darkened corridors lead into and out of a dimly lit space in which you can immerse yourself in the audio experience. You’re welcome to stay as long as you wish and to spend time sitting or moving around the space.

Although this is a purely sound-based artwork, we want everyone to be able to come and experience its sounds and vibrations. We’ve used a high-quality, ambisonic spatial sound system with multiple speakers at floor, head and ceiling height that you can touch to feel the vibrations of the sound piece.

For more information, visit our webpage Access at South Kensington.

A quote from Jana

"Lay your hand on a speaker, pay attention to the vibrations running through your whole body in the space or through your feet on the floor. You are feeling the same vibrations that the creatures in the river are sensing, though in a different medium - not water, but air and solid ground. I fished the sounds out of the river and I am presenting them back to you as a composition in air.

Fish and other creatures will sense the vibrations and sounds with their bodies in the water, each species in their own different way. Through bone conduction, we can also sense the vibrations and sounds, whether we hear them or not."

Audio description

Hear an audio description of the installation's introductory and summary text, or read the transcript below. 

Jana Winderen 

Jana Winderen is a sound artist, underwater sound recordist and composer based in Norway. Her practice pays particular attention to audio environments and to creatures which are hard for humans to access, both physically and aurally – deep under water, inside ice or in frequency ranges inaudible to the human ear.

Her activities include site-specific and spatial audio installations and concerts, which have been exhibited and performed internationally in major institutions and public spaces. 

Recent work includes The Art of Listening: Underwater at Lenfest Center for the Arts, Colombia University, New York. Listening through the Dead Zones for IHME, Helsinki. Dive in Park Avenue Tunnel in New York and Ultrafield for MoMA, New York. In 2011 she won the Golden Nica at Ars Electronica for Digital Musics & Sound Art. She releases her audio-visual work on Touch (UK).

Tony Myatt

Tony Myatt is a sound recordist, sound engineer and former Professor of Music and Sound recording at the University of Surrey, UK. He has collaborated with Jana Winderen for over a decade. Tony creates three-dimensional sound projections for sound installation art, film and live audio performances.

He uses audio production techniques informed by research in human spatial perception, which are often employed to promote themes relating to the conservation of species and awareness of rare and threatened habitats.

His work has been shown in galleries, concert halls and public spaces throughout the world, which currently includes the UK and Catalan pavilions at the 2024 Venice Art Biennale and the Notes from the Sea Floor at Gasometer, Oberhausen Germany.