freq_wave (“freak wave”) is like a rogue tsunami: it is unpredictable, unexpected, and can hit with tremendous force. Curated by composer and artist Carl Michael von Hausswolff (b. 1956, Linköping, Sweden) this project encompasses the contributions of 84 sound artists, composers and musicians in an interactive installation around oceanic creativity. It swells from countless spontaneous acts of solidarity and the will to connect and express. It is also an act of remembrance intended to draw attention to how climate chaos, social inequalities, and environmental injustices are violently manifesting themselves among humans and non-humans around the world. freq_wave spans the seven seas to show how art and culture can make the complexities of marine degradation audible, bringing attention to the delicate soundscapes of the sea.

The sounds of freq_wave stems from the element Water and include hydrophone recordings within the aquatic frequency ranges audible to the human ear, as well as those derived from information inscribed in data sets from ocean monitoring. The interplay of noises evoke the seas’ sonic capacities and spatial dimensions while indicating the extent and magnitude of human intervention. freq_wave grows out of a web-based sound installation of the same name, and freq_out, a sequence of 12 live sound works which have been ongoing since 2002. It is a commission by TBA21–Academy which first unfolded on Ocean Archive coinciding in with the digital program of the longterm research project Oceans in Transformation by the architectural research duo Territorial Agency.

List of participating artists: Jana Winderen, Finnbogi Petursson, Tommi Grönlund/Petteri Nisunen, PerMagnus Lindborg, Mike Harding, Kent Tankred, BJNilsen, Jacob Kirkegaard, Maia Urstad, Christine Ödlund, Peter Rehberg, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Zavoloka, Dungeon Acid, Christopher Chaplin, Klara Lewis, Joachim Nordwall, Bethan Kellough, Christina, Kubisch, Anna von Hausswolff, Lise-Lotte Norelius, Francisco Meirino, Puce Mary, Nadine Byrne, Chris Watson, Ulf Bilting, Brandon LaBelle, JG Thirlwell, Dark Morph, Yann Novak, Chandra Shukla, Tim Story, Dorit Chrysler, Stephen O’Malley, John Duncan, Okkyung Lee, Maria Chavez, Randall Dunn / Chloe Alexandra Thompson, Kali Malone, Yan Jun, Gus Ferguson, Jim O’Rourke, Minoru Sato, Bana Haffar, Dickson Dee, Ryoji Ikeda, Basel Abbas/Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Kim Ngọc, James Webb, Lawrence English, Francisco Lopez, Cielo Vargas, Felix Blume, Leonel Vásquez, Aoki Takamasa, Jonny Nash/Esmee Geerken, RAMZi, Alice Eldridge, Lisa Schonberg, Asma Ghanem, Yannick Dauby, Von Lichtern, Sun Araw, Manja Ristić, Maia Koenig, Yambe Tam/Dylan Henry Price, Soundwalk Collective, Dror Feiler, Tatiana Zobnina/Alonso Vázquez, Mats Lindström, Mark Fell, Adi Newton, Lary 7, Carl Abrahamsson, Tetsuo Furudate, Leif Elggren, Robert Crouch, Schneider TM, Zachary Paul, Thierry Charollais, Michael Esposito, Scot Jenerik, Daniel Menche, Scanner TM.