Once Doggerland, an historical connection between Britain and continental Europe. Now an industrial area were fossils are found and traded, surrounded by salty water we today call the North Sea.
Located on the Noorderhoofd pier along the busiest waterway in Europe, in Hoek van Holland, The Netherlands. The waterway is a ship canal called de Nieuwe Waterweg, which makes the Port of Rotterdam accessible for seagoing vessels from and to the North Sea. It’s the largest port in Europe and specialised in the petrochemical industries and cargo transshipment handlings. Across the water of Noorderhoofd are the Maasvlakte and Europoort, which are very heavily industrialised with also petrochemical industries, aswell as coal- and biomass-fired power plants, styrene- and propylene-oxide production and transhipment of ore, coal and palm oil.
This industrial area is surrounded by beaches where crabs, shrimps and starfish can be found. By dunes with foxes, rabbits, lizards and moles. By the air with sandpipers, polecats, buzzards and seagulls. And by the water with seals, sea bass’ and garfishes.
The auditive beauty of these surroundings is abruptly disturbed by increasing buzzes, noise and suddenly appearing rhythmical radar frequencies presenting itself through electromagnetic signals. The infrasound from the petroleum industries across gets supported by a slowly growing even intenser engine rumbling. The waves crashing on the pier are rising, each one followed by a greater force.
An interference of low and high increasing frequencies, as a collaboration between human and nature, is resonating through a pole standing on the pier. Beholding the industrial infrasound and coastal acoustics, responding in the creation of abrasive metallic harmonics. This pole is holding a warning sign, to contain our behaviour on the pier.
“Dangerous waves from shipping. Enter at your own risk.”
through the ears of its aquatic- and surrounded wildlife, adapted to the petrochemical industries and cargo shipping
"Noorderhoofd [51.98021° N, 4.11153° O]" is released on February 28th 2024.
The recordings are made on the pier "Noorderhoofd" in Hoek van Holland, The Netherlands on February 11th 2023.
All sounds are recorded with two unidirectional condenser microphones in X/Y setup, a geophone, hydrophone and electromagnetic receiver.
This recording is part of The Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision's field recording archive
“Noorderhoofd [51,98021° N, 4,11153° O]” is also part of the long-form sound composition Upstream Ensemble, where mainly its geophonic recordings are used.
This composition is initiated by TBA21’s Ocean-Archive, ocean comm/uni/ty and Pablo Diserens, who invited 35 field recordists to venture in the world and record aqueous sonic encounters. Upstream Ensemble navigates between the multiplicity of the water cycle as a sounding body. The work moves upstream through oceans, rivers, pipe networks, ponds, and glaciers while investigating the continuous flow of water and the environments that surround it. Here, the world’s aqueous fauna, flora, geologies, and technologies mingle into a synchronized motion that documents the sonic articulations of these wet zones. Upstream Ensemble is released digitally on TBA21’s Ocean-Archive website and physically released on the label forms of minutiae as cassette on Bandcamp.