In this project, I imagine a conversation between seaweed and a character: a woman who is half-human, half-seafoam. She lives on land, but must return to the sea nightly to survive. To facilitate this dialogue, I created four performative objects (Shield, Exoskeleton, Limpet, and Mermaid) that act as translation devices between species. (The ghostly, reflective shells were created by pushing metal and papier-mâché into extreme forms using custom car body manufacturing techniques.)
I used specialised microphones to record dry, frozen, and wet seaweed at frequencies beyond the human hearing range. I embedded custom sensors within the tentacles and folds of each sculpture.
As the performer physically bends and curves the flexible shells, the sensors pitch-shift these hidden ultrasonic sounds down into the human audible spectrum. The performer manipulates the pitch and tempo through touch, dragging the “voice” of the seaweed into our world.
Seaweed refuses to be documented; its gelatinous coating makes it slip through fingers and disintegrate. Microphones will never translate how the myriad different species who live with it experience its ‘seaweedness.’ So, these objects are my attempt to build a bridge for this fictional conversation. They attempt to capture the essence of seaweed by translating the vast environmental changes it endures into something intimate that you can hold.
The resulting soundscape is projected through a surround sound speaker system, immersing the audience while the sculptures are performed centrally. This creates a shared, visceral listening environment. The project can also be presented as a split-screen film with a surround sound mix.
Performed by dancer Marguerite Galizia.
Writing about the project by Rita Evans and Patrick Farmer has been published on the Sonic Art Research website here: https://www.sonicartresearch.co.uk/rita-evans-respondents/
Stills below from film (10 min 34 sec running time).
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
