The composition "Nýey" by Silvia Ploner and Nicolas Perret has received the first Price in the category "Radio Art" at the 10th Bienal Internacional de Radio in Mexico. Nýey was produced by Deutschlandradio Kultur and granted a residency at GMVL, Lyon by the jury of Phonurgia Nova in 2012. It has received the support of «Du côté des ondes» (RTBF, SACD and SCAM Belgium, SACD and SCAM France, Wallonia-Brussels Federation) in 2013. The installation was produced by La Turbine, Lyon, with the support of the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, GMVL and Lyon-Beton.

"Nýey" is a radio composition about the Island Surtsey, which emerged in 1963, off the coast of Iceland after an underwater volcanic eruption. The birth of a volcanic island is a rare event that occurs on average twice a century. Unlike Surtsey most of these islands disappear quickly. After 50 years of existence, Surtsey is still tenacious, but its days are numbered due to the rough tides of the North Atlantic that will erode the island sooner or later. Closed to the public, only a few scientists have access to the island since its emergence, to observe and study the explosion of life on an a priori sterile ground.

Scientists envision the island as a time capsule. As the youngest member of the Westman Islands, Surtsey is a window to the past of the older islands of the archipelago. Reciprocally, those older islands are a window to what Surtsey might become like in the future. Lending the approach of science, Nýey orchestrates an abstract conversation between the sound environment of the island – past, present, future – and the community exploring it.

Nicolas Perret and Silvia Ploner – Islands Songs – work with recording technologies to sound out mysterious acoustic environments, remote territories and unknown phenomena. Envisaging the milieus they investigate as laboratories, their interest is drawn to the faint, the imperceptible, the unsuspected, the sonic detail, the inaccessible. Alongside scientists whom they share fields of study and methods of work with, they embark in long term projects. The resulting field recording based compositions and installations shape listening as a method of exploration.