Scent - & sound games (2022)
Works for voice, keyboard instruments and sound.
Composer Þóranna Dögg Björnsdóttir
Performed by Heiða Árnadóttir, Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir and Þóranna Dögg Björnsdóttir

The workflow of the piece consisted of using five different scents to stimulate the sense of smell, trigger emotions and create scent-sound integration. In this way the three of us made connections to music based on the space that sprang forth from the smells and the emotions that emerged as we smelled; smell the world and listen to what he has to say. There is a deep and mysterious connection between the movements of celestial bodies, environmental factors, aromatic molecules created by plants and the atmosphere we breathe, a connection that creates breath, vivid images and memories. Like sound, smell is inherently intangible but moves us inwardly, affecting how we perceive time, stimulating a plethora of emotions - joy, optimism, serenity, desire, love; can soothe fear, unrest and anxiety. In collaboration with Heiða and Tinna, I researched a common interface, images and memories related to the smells and the musicality of that research shaped the form of the work.

And the self appears (2019/2020)
A piece for voice, vocal improvisation and electronics
Composer Þóranna Dögg Björnsdóttir
Poetry: Sonja Winckelmann Thomsen, translated by Birna Anna Björnsdóttir

“About such a thing as that not much fuss is made in the world; for a self is the thing the world is least apt to inquire about, and the thing of all things the most dangerous for a man to let people notice that he has it. The greatest danger, that of losing one’s own self, may pass off as quietly as if it were nothing; every other loss, that of an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc., is sure to be noticed.“ -Søren Kierkegaard, Sygdommen til døden.

Participants
Heiða Árnadóttir, singer
Tinna Þorsteinsdóttir, pianist
Þóranna Dögg Björnsdóttir, composer and performer