Blue Haze of Deep Time

Blue Haze of Deep Time is an immersive installation featuring audio by composer Jonathan Nangle alongside motion design by Stephen MacDevitt and audio sculptures by Rory Tangney, the installation invites the listener to experience the colours, rhythms and textures of the sea.

In Blue Haze of Deep Time, composer Jonathan Nangle invites us to consider not just what the sea looks like, but what it sounds like. Drawing on years of field recordings and a deep connection to the Irish coastline, his composition transforms the movement of waves, the rhythms of the tide, and the unpredictable character of the ocean into an immersive musical journey. The video installation by Stephen MacDevitt is a response to this sonic journey, playing on the evocative titles of the movements and mirroring the blurring of boundaries between the digital and analogue world of the musical material.

Blue Haze of Deep Time consists of three acoustic and three electronic movements, represented through the juxtaposition of recorded or analogue footage alongside digital feedback distortions of the same imagery. The compositions vary: some footage spans the entire width of the canvas, while others are mirrored or split in half, and some shift from side to side. Each composition features two forms: dramatic sea footage and its intriguing graphic alteration.Just as Jonathan applies his compositional ear by combining, manipulating, and layering field recordings of the sea, Stephen’s visuals also layer, distort and interact over the panoramic canvas. The six movements take us on a journey, a visual interpretation of the waves to match the sonic—first rising and crashing, then receding and submerging us underwater. This experience evokes a distortion of sound and space, with the sense of motion guiding the work’s pace.

Premiered at New Music Dublin at the National Concert Hall in April 2025, the Crash Ensemble presented two promenade performances, inviting the audience on a journey through the halls and rooms of the NCH, with movements performed along the way. The video installation, which sat alongside Rory Tangney’s audio sculpture, ran for the full five-day programme of New Music Dublin and later the Kilkenny Arts Festival and Dunlavin Arts Festival. A bespoke, hour-long version of the title movement is accompanied by a video that generates a new running order of the thirteen video files, creating an ever-changing and emerging visual.  

Composer – Jonathan Nagle

Audio Recording – Crash Ensemble & Ryan McAdams

Video Installation – Stephen Mac Devitt

Audio Sculpture – Rory Tangney