"The sound installation reflects on the conflictual relationship between humans and natural environments through an immersive, interactive listening experience.
Inspired by the ecological sci-fi novels of Ursula K. Le Guin and David Monacchi’s soundscape research project Fragments of Extinction, this work aspires to offer an occasion to reflect on the impact of our presence in natural surroundings.

Through an elegant, non–self-explaining use of technology, sound, and the progressive revelation of the rules of action/reaction within the ecosystem, visitors are invited to spend as much time as possible in this ever-changing sensing soundscape.
Central to the work is the creation of an artificial ecosystem in which the presence of visitors alters the equilibrium of its invisible sonic structures.
The space is populated with sound sculptures made of the same components: a resonant metal body suspended from the ceiling (a cymbal), set into vibration by a sound exciter—much like the interaction between the magnetic coil and membrane of a loudspeaker. This agglomerate is connected to the ground through organic materials: an ivy plant growing along a cable from a mound of soil.
This micro, self-enclosed system is replicated at different points in a closed space and is lit by two spotlights placed vertically above and below the cymbal. They react to different sound materials according to shifting rules of interdependency.
We hear various mysterious sound sources behaving like animal calls in a forest. Their identity continuously shifts between recognisable and enigmatic, being based on manipulated soundscape recordings, musical instruments, and objects.
The sound sources interact in an intricate, multi-layered composition, yet as visitors approach the objects, the sounds react in various ways—often withdrawing from them: fading out, moving to another cymbal, or radically changing identity.
This behaviour strongly recalls how the consequences of our disruptive presence expand from local to global scales across the planet: habitat destruction and the consequent extinction of species, both on the above- and below-ground (f.i fungal networks) ecological level.
In the installation we experience something familiar (like birds and insects reacting to us in the woods) while simultaneously observing long-term transformations distant in time and space from our localised position.
Nevertheless, the initially repulsive interactive relationship evolves over time and according to the audience’s behaviour, opening up the possibility of a more harmonic interplay once certain conditions are met (e.g. if visitors water the ivy or behave quietly in the room).
Exploring different possibilities and rules of cause and effect will form the core of the artistic research. What happens when people become aware of their responsibility—not only individually, but collectively?
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