Bruce Munro's Cantus Arcticus

Bruce Munro, an installation artist working in light. has produced an exhibition inspired by Einohujani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus. The exhibition is on at the National Trust's Waddesdon House, it was installed in March and is on display at the Coach House Gallery for the 2013 season. Munro's Cantus Arcticus was inspired by the shimmering curtains of the Northern Lights and by Rautavaara's music of the same name, which in turn was inspired by the landscape and bird song of the Arctic tundra.

Munro's piece is composed of 15 abstract bird forms rendered in curtains of glowing fibre optic occupying the Coach House floor. Light cascades from above each piece, casting soft pools that change colour in response to Rautavaara’s music, which plays in the space. Finnish composer Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus was written in 1972, subtitled Concerto for Birds and Orchestra it incorporates tape recordings of birdsong recorded near the Arctic Circle and on the bogs of Liminka in northern Finland.