MARIA W HORN

An avid explorer of sound's spectral properties, Maria W Horn's work realises the potential of long-forgotten spaces. Via instrumental textures, room responses, the human voice and a specialised computer language, she synthesises entirely new sonics. We heard more about her processes and the at-times chilling story behind her affecting new album, Panoptikon

Originally operational between 1856 and 1979, Sweden’s Vita Duvan prison, in Luleå, in the far north of Sweden, was the country’s only ‘panopticon prison’: an environment designed to facilitate maximum social control through psychological techniques, including isolation and limited human contact. It instilled an omnipresent feeling of being watched via its circular structure. For Swedish composer, artist and electronic innovator Maria W Horn, the prison – now abandoned – was an intriguing prospect.

Maria explains: “As I visited the city in order to research the area for The Arts Biennial, I passed by this circular building that I found fascinating. It turned out to be a former prison. The only ‘panoptic’ prison in Sweden. As I started working on an installation, the history of the prison gradually unfolded.”