Sigur Rós Singer Jónsi to Create Sonic Volcano at Mona

The volcano will open alongside new sculptures by materials manipulator Jean-Luc Moulène and a huge collection of Christian devotional objects.

Sigur Rós singer Jónsi will create a dark cave lined with almost 200 speakers for a work entitled Hrafntinna (Obsidian) that will open at Hobart's Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in September.

The speakers will emit sounds at different frequencies along with an original composition inspired by Icelandic choral music to create an atmosphere that's both an explosion and an embrace.

Mona curator Sarah Wallace said Jónsi 'wanted to recreate the phenomenon and capture the essence of what it might feel like to be deep inside the volcano, despite the obstacles of distance and logistics.'

The artist was inspired by the Fagradalsfjall eruption in 2021, which took place when he was stuck in the United States due to the pandemic and feeling homesick.

Two more exhibitions will open at Mona in September alongside Hrafntinna.

Jean-Luc Moulène will present four newly commissioned sculptures created using wax, metal, Triassic sandstone, and timber from ancient underwater forests in Tasmania. These works were created in collaboration with Australian materials experts.

Wallace said 'the resulting objects are at once mysteriously beautiful, and forthright about the means of their making.'

The third exhibition, Heavenly Beings: Icons of the Christian Orthodox World, features more than 140 items depicting saints, virgins and other holy subjects. It was first organised and presented at New Zealand's Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

Mona curator Jane Clark said we can look at these items as a 'window to heaven' or a 'looking glass, through which we may glimpse the deeper purposes—deeper than awe and transcendence, than culture or a higher power—that are served by human creativity.'

All three exhibitions will run from 30 September 2023 through 1 April 2024. —[O]