Mere kul på gas med H.C. Ørsted
By Jakob Riis

In 1993 the last coal boat arrived at the H.C. Ørsted power plant. Nowadays gas is used as fuel and the plant pollutes with (only?) 0.4 kg CO2 per kWh electricity produced. Coal fueled plants pollutes with the double amount.

H.C. Ørsted was professor at Copenhagen University 1806-1829. During a lecture in 1820 he discovered that his compass was affected by an electrical wire nearby.

This discovery became significant for the future research in the field of electromagnetism. Understanding electromagnetism is fundamental for producing electricity with the help of electromagnetic turbines. Its principles also is fundamental for the construction of loudspeakers.

H.C. Ørsted was very interested in the nature of sound, in music and how it affected body and soul, and he wrote two papers on this subject: "Om Grunden til den Fornøielse, Tonerne frembringe" (Skandinavisk Selskabs Skrifter, 7de Bind, 1808.) og "Ordnede Lydudtryks Naturvirkning" (Barfods Brage og Idun, 1ste Bind, 1839). The papers take the form of a conversation between 5 individuals, whereof 4 appears in both papers.

The above constitutes the framework and the inspiration for "Mere Kul på H. C. Ørsted" - in sound and pictures. Recordings from the different rooms of the Ørsted plant delivers the raw material for an aesthetic/artistic investigation of the sound environment within and around the plant. The work is composed for an 8 speaker system, thus making it possible to establish a 3-dimensional experience of the sound.

The structure of the composition is build around the dialogue of the 6 characters from the Ørsted papers, as well as the tonal phenomena described in the papers are being treated artistically. Video recordings from the Ørsted Plant and the themes of electromagnetism, coal and gas vil be used in the video remix.

The duration of the work is app.. 30 minutes. The composition is available for the 8 channel Ars Acoustica standard, as well as an AV-version in THX cinematic standard and a surround DVD version.