Colossus by Paul Steen

The colossus with feet of clay is an Old Testament allegory from the Book of Daniel describing an empire too weak to stand the test of time, and was an image often used by swedish historians to describe the failed ambitions of Sweden as an empire, a period that began with Sweden's entry into the Thirty Years War in 1630.

Colossus is an art project exploring events and the cultural context of the early 17th century in Germany, a period when the fates of my country of origin and my current country of residence came to be inextricably intertwined.

The exhibition Colossus is accompanied by an ambient soundtrack using the Swedish nyckelharpa. The instrument was widely spread in Europe in the Middle Ages but only survived in rural areas of Sweden, revived by the hippie movement in the region where I grew up in the 1970s.

The soundtrack takes themes from folksongs, hymns and dances from the period and slows them down into a barely recognizable drone, with added improvisations.

For the hymn O Little Flock, Fear Not The Foe, I have used the voice of my daughter, being fluent in both Swedish and German.

There is also a Twitterbot connected to the project, tweeting a randomly generated epic picaresque story of a queer odyssey through war ravaged German lands in hourly tweets at @DogOfWar1631.

Tracklist

1.	O Little Flock, Fear Not The Foe	4:16

2.	I Will Wait For You	4:51

3.	We Built A Fortress (Gustavsburg)	2:52

4.	Three Days Of Magdeburg	3:34

5.	Dance Of Death	2:45

6.	Salt Of The Earth	4:22

7.	My Little Florentine	3:21

8.	Cry Bitter Tears	3:49

9.	Winter Camp	4:21

Credits

released June 17, 2021

License