Paper & Sound

This sound recording made inside the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is presented on noise cancelling headphones, alongside three sheets of paper. With a constant temperature of -18 °C, the vault is built 120 meters inside the sandstone mountain Platåberget on Spitsbergen Island, far from tectonic activity, war and rising water levels. By leaving the recorder alone is the space without any human activity present, the result is an almost silent sound recording, comparable to the actual experience of standing silently in the vault itself. The only sound is a slight resonating from the coolant system which runs constantly to maintain the preservative temperature of the vault. This vacuous soundscape is presented alongside three sheets of paper indicating the actual inventory of the vaults, updated annually. The empty sheets are suggestive of the future possibilities/eventualities for both the vault and the world in which it was built.