Superorganism
Superorganism: Listening in the anthropocene
2021
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Project Details
Event: Botanica Festival
Funding: Brisbane City Council
Focus: Sound research, curation and design, installation design, lighting design
Team
Lead Artist: Dr. Sarah Barns (sound curation, concept design)
Audio-visual design: Michael Killalea
Music composition: Nigel Cruikshank
Sound design and installation: Pete Hird
Technical design and installation: Leif Wilson, Pete Hird
Steel entranceway: Ran Stanton, Tortuga Studios
Lighting supplies: Minleon Lighting
With thanks to the following field recordists for permission to use recordings in this piece: Andrew Skeoch, Vicky Powys, George Vlad (UK). Acknowledgement to the State Library of Western Australia for use of John Hutchinson's 1980 field recordings of the Daintree Rainforest.
A bespoke sound and light installation by Esem Projects, Superorganism invites audiences to step inside the vast canopy of the City Botanic Gardens’ Tipuana tree. Lie back, look up, and listen in to past, present and imagined future sounds of our fragile planetary ecosystems.
Informed by the ideas of James Lovelock, creator of the Gaia hypothesis, Superorganism resonates with different soundings of complex ecosystems – from natural to artificial, from historical bird songs to electro-synthesis and machine intelligence.
Taking place at pivot point in the history of our planet, during an era of mass extinction and loss of biodiversity, Superorganism invites audiences to reflect, under the canopy of the tree, on what we are losing, what we gain by paying attention, and what uncertain futures lie ahead.
Superorganism sound and programmable lights illuminated inside the Tipuana Tree during Botanica Festival, 8-16 May 2021.