Jacob Dahl Jürgensen & Simon Dybbroe Møller
Flotsam and Jetsam
LP/DL   AE010
May 15, 2011

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“Flotsam and Jetsam” is a collaborative project by Jacob Dahl Jürgensen and Simon Dybbroe Møller.

 “Flotsam and Jetsam” is a common phrase that refers to discarded or useless objects, but its origin is in the way maritime law designates goods fished out of the sea or found on the shore. Whether caused by shipwreck (flotsam) or by deliberate jettison (jetsam), the convention crucially also stipulates that these objects must be returned to the original owner only if a proper claim for ownership is made.

For “Flotsam and Jetsam”, Jacob Dahl Jürgensen and Simon Dybbroe Møller collected a number of objects chosen for their sonic qualities, including pieces of furniture, glass jars, bottles, cans, metal pipes, and driftwood, from the shores of the volcanic island of Pantelleria near Sicily in July 2009. A group of associated  artists was then invited to turn the objects into improvised musical instruments. Recorded outside on a patio over several extended day and night sessions, “Flotsam and Jetsam” was collectively performed by Eleanor Vonne Brown, Kerstin Cmelka, Raphael Danke, Jens Carl Daugbjerg, Jacob Dahl Jürgensen, Michele Di Menna, Daniel Müller-Friedrichsen, Simon Dybbroe Møller, and Emily Wardill.

Out of these ad hoc group compositions, Jürgensen and Møller selected raw material for two final mixes. “Flotsam and Jetsam” is a vinyl record, conceived as part of an exhibition of the same name, which comprises a display of the found objects used in the recordings and a short film shot on location during the collective process.

“Flotsam and Jetsam” associatively links ancient rituals of plunder and scavenging to modern artistic traditions such as the modernist embrace of the objet trouvé. Jürgensen and Møller’s project also playfully addresses the long-running relationships, ambiguities, boundaries, and traditions that define and govern the sea as social space and the collaborative possibilities inherent in island communities.

Credits:

Performed and recorded by Eleanor Vonne Brown, Kerstin Cmelka, Raphael Danke, Jens Carl Daugbjerg, Jacob Dahl Jürgensen, Michele Di Menna, Daniel Müller-Friedrichsen, Simon Dybbroe Møller, Emily Wardill on the island of Pantelleria, Italy in July 2009.

Mastered by Marco Buttgereit. 
Cover designed by Jacob Dahl Jürgensen, Simon Dybbroe Møller and Karsten Heller at DiG, Berlin.

Published on the occassion of the exhibition Flotsam and Jetsam at Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, February 2011 curated by Anja Casser.

© 2011 Jacob Dahl Jürgensen & Simon Dybbroe Møller

Released in cooperation with Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, Germany.
www.badischer-kunstverein.de