Espen Sommer Eide
Espen Sommer Eide (Tromsø, 1972) is a musician and artist currently living in Bergen. He composes under the alias Phonophani, and as a member of the band Alog. Live he uses elaborate setups of custom made instruments, hybrids combining electronic and acoustic elements. He has several releases on the record label Rune Grammofon. Alog's album Miniatures was awarded the Norwegian Grammy-award (Spellemannprisen) in 2006.
In addition to touring extensively with his musical projects, Eide also has produced a series of site-specific pieces and artworks. These projects include composing and performing music for the 50-year anniversary of Le Corbusier's chapel in Ronchamp, France, building the sound art installation Sonus Barentsicus for the Northern Lights Festival in Tromsø, Norway 2007, and a special performance at the Manifesta7 biennale in Italy, where local vinyl records were reconstructed into new musical instruments. Eide is currently a member of the theatre-collective Verdensteatret, involved especially with building instruments, composing music and sounddesign. Verdensteatret's latest show travelled extensively visiting amongst others the Shanghai biennale 2010. Eide has also been involved in a series of net-art projects with various topics connected to the Barents and arctic regions of Northern Norway, under the heading of "rural readers". Amongst others a permanent installation for the Eastern Sami Museum in Neiden, Norway. In addition to making music and art, Eide has also been directing the Trollofon electronic music festival in Bergen (2001-2006), and worked as artistic developer at BEK (Bergen Center of Electronic Arts).
