Touch The Tree & Listen

Overview

This installation was created in the final three days of my residency at Audiotalaia (El Pollel, Barcelona). The 10 day “summer camp” culminated in a pop-up exhibition/concert, for the local villagers and friends of Edu Comelles, the organiser, from Barcelona. The task was to put together an evening of sound art in the shadow of a derelict church, Sant Susana, which showcased all the different ideas we’d been exploring throughout the week.

After surveying the field we’d be using, I teamed up with Soeria to work on an interactive headphone/tree installation. Filling the tree with microphones, the plan was to exploring micro and macro sounds, those close and those faraway.

After some experiences, we realised all the microphones in the tree (contact, piezo and binaural) filled out the mid and high frequencies, so we added a subtle backing track to fill out the low end frequencies. It also gave the impression that you were listening to the beating heart of the tree, the rumble of its engine.

In Catalan you ‘touch’ rather than ‘play’ musical instruments, so with help from native speakers we chose the title “Toca L’arbre I Escolta’l / Touch The Tree and Listen”. By hanging wooden utensils and a bow from the branches, we encouraged people to interact with the tree and by extension with each other. One listens, one interacts – then they swap and try again.

With the final night upon us, despite broken skin, broken branches and even a  broken phone – It was beautiful to see people playing, laughing and collaborating together around our installation. Listen to an except below.