Introducing the topic with the great animal orchestra, a project commended by the Foundation Cartier, where the united visual artists were invited to collaborate, to perpetuate and celebrate Bernie Krause’s work (musician, bioacoustics, and scientist). In this project, the main figure is Bernie, who has been recording animals for 45 years and has compilated more the 5000 hours of sound recordings and over 15 000 individual species in their natural habitats from all over the world. The work was followed by an exposition where the spectator is surrounded by soundscapes, spectrograms. the spectrogram creates an abstract landscape that folds very smoothly in the environment of the exhibition.
Animals are indeed natural instruments that hold unique sounds and we might not notice the importance they have in landscape, because, maybe, we take natural life as something pre-acquired. this makes me think about the possibility of one day humans stop to listen to the sound of the earth moving as its inexistence is something that no one knows what it feels like. Imagine one day, you wake in New York and all you can hear is a loud murmur reverberating in the tall walls of the city with no sign of technology and life. Although, I feel that Bernie was not recording nature with this ideology. It seems that he was chasing textures and hues, denying the presence of the artist and with a very classic approach. Bernie Krause’s intention is not to lie to you about what you are hearing. In fact, what you hear is reality itself, but from the perspective of the recordist. I consider that I relate a lot to Bernie Krause’s personality. 5000 hours means a passion for something. 5000 hours means patience and knowing how to live with it. Since I was 15 I’ve been observing birds with perseverance and now that I am a young artist I know that I can use this passion of mine for something big. When art touches the most natural things, it explodes with clairvoyance.
On the other hand, Izabela Dłużyk, a polish nature recordist, seeks a feeling when she records her pieces. She makes the presence of the artist more real, as she lets you know where she points her microphone. Her work is selective but yet with no filters. The connection that she has with nature is described by her encounter with it and not the opposite. In her project “soundscapes of summer”, recorded in the forests of Zywkovo (Poland), Izabela shows us what she seeks in a constant movement to find the perfect sensation/spot – in the track “dawn with the white storks” you can notice this elliptical movement of the microphone, where sounds fade away and reappear with a purpose. Compared to Bernie Krause’s recordings, Izabela has a more modern approach to sound, but yet without unrevealing nature itself. The stork’s calling feels to be rotating and the listener is constantly changing positions in terms of space.
Lastly, Jana Winderen’s work is the least realistic, however, it is the most conscient of the post-production capabilities of audio. Jana is a Norwegian sound artist that, for now, has been focusing her work on the unreachable water world, either on the deep sea or even inside the ice. She studies and records wild places that have particular importance in our understanding of the complexity and fragility of marine ecosystems. Her album “energy field” is a great example to describe her work both sonically and artistically: you can notice the presence of the artist in many different ways – microphone selection and position, editing frequencies, and sound structure timeline – and you can point the mood intentionality in terms of feeling and state of mind. in the track “aquaculture” I personally felt a spoonful of seasickness and a very dark and unreachable environment that wasn’t meant to be reached by humans.
Related to the previous showcased works, I would recommend xeno-canto, a website made by ornithologists, and for ornithologists. It is dedicated to sharing bird sounds from all over the world. Whether you are a research scientist, a birder, or simply curious about a sound that you heard out your kitchen window.