Balancing Conflicting Types of Authenticity in the Reconstruction of Sound and Music in the Installation Work Blikk (1970)

Abstract

This article describes the quest for authenticity in the reconstruction of music, sound, light and logic in the installation work Blikk (The Gaze) by Irma Salo Jæger, Sigurd Berge and Jan Erik Vold. My work on this installation was undertaken at the behest of the National Museum for Art and Architecture in Oslo, Norway, who planned for the installation to be part of the exhibition when the doors opened to their new building in June 2022, following several years of construction. Blikk is described here in context with other works from the same period with which it shares some characteristics, and also with a view on the commissioning institution that represented and promoted radical artistic and curatorial innovation at the time. This frames my discussion of the different authenticity concerns that emerged during the restoration and reconstruction process. In fact, as the project grew from relatively trivial restoration to more involved reconstruction, weighing different authenticity types became the central element of the effort. I have used written, visual and sounding sources in descriptions on how I have balanced these concerns, and the discussion has been supplemented with information on the music technology available to the artists in 1970.