Ice Kantele

The project began after witnessing Terje Isungset's ice quartet at the Oulu2026 opening. That experience reignited a long-held desire to craft a traditional Finnish kantele from frozen water.

Rather than recreating a historical artifact, I approached it as a living score: an object meant to breathe, shift, and respond to its environment.

The kantele was cast using a 3D-printed mold engineered for Oulu's sub-zero conditions. Initial prototypes revealed practical challenges: water leakage, thermal contraction, and securing strings into frozen surfaces.

Through iterative problem-solving, the form evolved through several key innovations:

• Bottom-only cast — refined geometry to prevent leakage while maximizing acoustic surface area
• 3D-printed nut-holders suspended in unfrozen water — allowing tuning stability without direct ice contact
• Marine-grade U-locks as durable string anchors — replacing early prototypes that failed under tension
• Screws driven into pliable ice while still freezing — creating a secure mounting system that survived repeated thermal cycles

With temperatures dropping to -12°C, the block solidified overnight—transforming digital fabrication into time-bound, site-specific sculpture.

The instrument's first live showcase took place at Frozen People Festival on February 28, 2026, in Nallikari, Oulu. During our Arctic Pulse stage performance with Oulu Sound Collective, unseasonably warm conditions caused the kantele to begin melting mid-set.

Its sonic qualities and creation process later informed our Two Seas project, where field recordings of freezing ice were layered with electronic soundscapes to explore climate narratives through participatory art.

• Performance: Oulu Sound Collective · Arctic Pulse Stage · Frozen People Festival 2026
• Funded/Supported by: Oulu2026 European Capital of Culture program

The field recordings of the Ice Kantele's crystalline resonance and the acoustic architecture of cracking ice on the Bothnian Bay became a crucial source material for our Two Seas Project. These recordings were layered with electronic soundscapes from Paranoid London at the EarthSonic programme, forming part of a broader climate narrative told through sonic art.