Every month, Alice Audouin, art & sustainability curator and expert, founder of Art of Change 21 and Impact Art News, explores a new theme and selects the cream of the crop within the art, fashion, and design worlds.
Sound perception and dialogue with nature through art – the third installment of our new series by the wonderful Alice .
Nature’s whispers are all around us, but can we hear them? Artists like Katie Paterson or Bernie Krause do—capturing seismic and ice tremors, birdsong, and even bat conversations with AI. As technology meets the wild, soundscapes reveal Earth’s hidden rhythms, from ocean depths to forest canopies. Whether it’s tuning into the 111Hz frequency, used by ancestors in sacred sites around the world with Haroon Mirza, or walking through sound with Hildegard Westerkamp, these works immerse us in the planet’s symphony. Ecological sound art takes this a step further, using sound as a medium to raise awareness about environmental issues, translating the voices of endangered ecosystems into a call for action.
As COP16 on Biodiversity unfolds in Cali, Colombia, the urgency to halt the current mass extinction is palpable. Sound is invited to give voice to endangered species and rich ecosystems, reminding us of the delicate balance that needs protection. The question isn’t whether nature speaks, but whether we’re ready to listen.
1. COP16 in Columbia, art, music and nature united
Colombian composer Miguel de Narvaez leads the charge with a special soundscape for COP16 – the United Nations Biodiversity Conference -, blending Colombia’s national anthem with the sounds of 41 bird species, frogs, a jaguar, and even a whale. Sounds Right, another initiative launched in England by musicians, artists, and environmentalists, captures the sounds of ecosystems. Now backed by the UN for COP16, this movement turns nature into the main chorus for global conservation, celebrating Colombia’s biodiversity with a powerful sonic message.
2. Listen to a Melting Glacier
Katie Paterson, an environmental art pioneer, connected a live telephone line to an Icelandic glacier in her 2007 work Vatnajökull (the sound of). With an underwater microphone, callers could listen to the glacier melting in real time. This early project bridged technology and nature, offering a haunting reminder of climate change’s impact. Paterson’s practice continues to explore the invisible forces of the natural world, translating them into accessible, sensory experiences. She is part of the group exhibition, Sky Gazing at ARoS with her work Totality, a show pushing the boundaries of cosmic contemplation, inviting visitors to look beyond Earth and connect with the universe on a whole new level.
3. Hear the Hidden Harm of Underwater Noise
Belgian artist Elise Guillaume uses a hydrophone to record the eerie sounds of icebergs melting in the Arctic. Her project Waves of Resonance turns these delicate, underwater recordings into a haunting auditory experience, highlighting the impacts of climate change and underwater noise pollution. By capturing the fragile beauty of melting ice, Guillaume connects audiences to the urgent environmental challenges facing our planet.
4. Listen to Earth’s Secrets
Just opened at the Palais de Tokyo, French-Swiss artist Julian Charrière’s Stone Speakers captures seismic sounds from five volcanoes around the world, turning geological formations into living storytellers. “With the sound, I can create a direct connection, through the body, with nature, where the brain connects”. This installation opens a new dialogue between art and the Earth’s hidden rhythms, inviting visitors to experience nature’s silent whispers in real-time.
5.Pioneers of Sound Ecological Art
85-year-old Bernie Krause has spent his life capturing the raw symphony of nature. From Apocalypse Now to rainforests and oceans, his soundscapes preserve Earth’s fragile ecosystems, offering an unparalleled auditory window into the wild. Meanwhile, since the 1970s, the 78-years-old canadian composer, Hildegard Westerkamp has pioneered immersive sound walks, transforming everyday environments into interactive soundscapes that reconnect listeners with nature’s subtleties. They are pioneers of sound ecological art, using their craft to awaken us to the environment’s sonic beauty.
6. Hear Water Sing in the Ruinart Garden
Tomoko Sauvage, a Japanese-born artist now based in Paris, joins forces with Elias & Yousef Anastas for Serpentine Bell, an immersive installation made of 103 blown-glass pieces. The soundscape, composed of underwater recordings, including water-filled bowls and air bubbles from chalk stones in Ruinart’s cellars, resonates throughout the structure. This contemplative experience distorts and reimagines the surrounding landscape, inviting visitors into a world of serene, aquatic echoes.
7. Tap into Earth’s Holy Frequencies
British contemporary artist Haroon Mirza’s work dives deep into the mystical 111Hz frequency, believed to have sacred resonance in nature. Found in megalithic structures and ancient sacred sites, this frequency is thought to promote healing and altered states of consciousness. Mirza blends solar energy with shamanic drums in his installations, creating immersive experiences that reveal the Earth’s hidden vibrations.
8. Birds Tell the Story of Biodiversity
British artist and ornithologist Marcus Coates captures bird songs as indicators of ecological balance. His recordings showcase how birds’ voices reflect the health of biodiversity, revealing the fragile harmony of nature. His Nature’s Calendar, featured in the Ruinart Garden, adds a poetic layer by highlighting the rhythms and cycles of the natural world, immersing visitors in an exploration of time through nature’s lens
9. Bats Spilling Secrets with AI
On October 12th at the Natural History Museum in Paris, parisian artist Antoine Bertin’s The Bat Cloud featured AI eavesdropping on bat chatter. In the jungle around SFER IK Museion, these nocturnal creatures’ conversations are turned into an immersive, surreal sound and light show. Bertin takes it further with his 333Hz Project, using a metronome to sonify deforestation as different tree species vanish. It’s nature’s hidden rhythms—bats, forests, and the unsettling pulse of loss—revealed through sound and science
10. Feel the Power of Ecocide Opera at Venice Biennale
Composers Roman Grygoriv and Illia Razumeiko, known for their experimental edge, bring GAIA-24 to Venice on October 26. This intense opera blends music and ritual to confront the ecocidal impact of the Kakhovka dam explosion. Performed at Ocean Space, it combines ecological soundscapes and body movement, pushing the boundaries of opera. Hosted by the Ukrainian Pavilion, GAIA-24 turns the stage into a raw reflection on war and nature’s destruction—an unforgettable experience as the Venice Biennale nears its close.
Selection & Text by Alice Audouin
