Description
Sound
Photos
Support
Description
Ocean Darkening approaches the power, diversity, and adaptability of microorganisms. Due to human-made climate change, coral reefs are also acutely threatened. The microorganisms inhabiting them and their surroundings function ambivalently—as protective partners, as a biotechnological treasure trove full of active compounds, but also as potential triggers of coral diseases.
The track is based on four different components.
First, there are interviews conducted by director Mathias Hannus-El Khoury with Dr. Martin Sperfeld, Dr. James O’Brien, and Prof. Jan Roelof van der Meer.
The transcript of the interviews is available here:
https://stefankägi.ch/assets/ocean_darkening/transkript.pdf
Second, I rely on genomic data about coral reef microorganisms collected during the Tara Pacific expedition from 2016 to 2018. For this, I selected nine bacteria that stood out to me because of their ability to produce a large number of biosynthetic natural compounds; of bioluminescence; or of degrading environmental pollutants. For these, starting from the mentioned data, I realized each one’s own sonic implementation. You can explore these microorganisms on a virtual boat tour.
https://stefankägi.ch/assets/ocean_darkening/karte_boot.html
Third, I used acoustic recordings made by Ph.D. Xavier Raick within the framework of passive acoustic monitoring of coral reefs and their surroundings at various sea depths—in the course of the track, so to speak, there is a gradual descent—near French Polynesia. To illustrate the power of microorganisms, I partially altered them with the previously mentioned genomic data.
Finally, sounds running through the entire track trace the coordinates of the selected microorganisms in an acoustic sense as a journey. All these individual parts play both isolated and overlapping.
For further information, please visit:
ETH Zürich: An endangered natural pharmacy hidden in coral reefs
Ph.D. Xavier Raick: A dataset of soundscapes from Polynesian altiphotic, mesophotic and rariphotic zones
If you would like to support coral reefs, you can make a donation to Ia Vai Ma Noa Bora Bora. This is an organization based in Bora Bora (French Polynesia) that is dedicated, among other things, to the protection of coral reefs:
https://iavaimanoaborabora.org/faire-un-don/
To date, the project has been presented at Galaria Fravi in Domat/Ems and at ETH Zürich.
Sound
This track was created as a binaural mix. So when listening with headphones, a spatial effect can be suggested. This should give the fact that microorganisms are omnipresent in our environment an even more tangible dimension in an artistic way.
You can listen to the entire track at the following link; it is released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
https://stefankägi.ch/assets/ocean_darkening/ocean_darkening.wav
Photos
Photos 1 & 2 by Mathias Hannus-El Khoury
Photos 3 & 4 by Stefan Kägi
Photos 5 & 6 by Lina Doll
Support
This project was made possible by:
Kulturförderung Graubünden
NCCR Microbiomes