‘Agnete and The Merman’ is a film adaptation of on a sonic theatre production created by the composer Cristian Vogel. The original staging happened at Godsbanen Theatre Aarhus in June 2017. The scenes for the film were shot on the set and edited by Canadian AV artists Tanya Goehring and Trevor Jacobson aka The Automatic Message.

‘Agnete and The Merman’ is a supernatural Scandinavian folk ballad. Cristian Vogel’s sonic theater adaptation was originally commissioned by the Aarhus European Capital of Culture under its “ReThink” theme. Software controlled sound, light and live choreographic performance reframed scenes from the old ballad, as a modern, immersive and immediate music experience. The staged version ran for four nights and was well received by all who attended.

The parallel film project represents an experiment into performative documentation, aiming to mediate the experience of the immersive staging for a wider audience. The music score of the film is an adaptation of Cristian Vogel’s original wave field synthesis score, but has been recomposed entirely in Higher Order Ambisonics at Notam Studio Sirius in Oslo.

The cinematographic content of the film captures in detail the sensations of the immersive theater performance, filmed on location with the performers using high definition cameras and lighting.

The film was premiered in December 2017 on the famous ZKM Kubus spatial sound system, as part of the InSonic2017 official selection.