• If We Vanish
  • If We Vanish
  • If We Vanish
  • If We Vanish
  • If We Vanish
  • If We Vanish
  • in search of natural silence
  • in search of natural silence
  • in search of natural silence
  • in search of natural silence

If we vanish

in collaboration with Nikhil Nagaraj

year: 2022
Research and recording field trip, listening room multichannel 3D, video installation
Listening Room: 45min (Loop), Video installation 33min

In 2022, I embarked on an unforgettable 40-day expedition with fellow sound artist Nikhil Nagaraj and our team to map the sounds of some of the last pristine places in India before they cease to exist. If We Vanish takes an artistic and scientific approach to the issue of noise pollution and its impacts on the environment, the society, and health.

After extensive research and planning, we set out to some of India’s remaining natural landscapes to capture the sonic heritage of these ancient biodiverse areas before they are irrevocably destroyed by human interference and climate change. From the Western Ghats to the high altitude cold deserts of the Himalayas, we trekked in mountain forests, climbed to altitudes of over 4500m and recorded around 434 hours of natural soundscapes in various 3D audio formats.
The soundscape of a place is an underestimated measure of the biodiversity of flora and fauna and is still hardly taken into account in nature conservation strategies. As humans conquer the planet, the soundscape around us is changing, with profound implications for our health and well-being. Just as city lights wash out the stars, the vast natural soundscapes that make up our world are being submerged by human noise. More than 35,000 animals and plants around the world are now considered endangered. This project aims to show why it is so important to preserve the remaining natural soundscapes and empower us to perceive the world’s ecosystem differently.
The preservation of soundscapes and sound structures from these regions can be used by ecologists and scientists to study the state of the ecosystem; such a basis did not previously exist for these regions. In collaboration with scientists and natural conservationists, the artists explored the areas and collected data to be archived, preserved and provided for interested research institutions. In order to reproduce the three-dimensional experience of these soundscapes in an artistic framework, we used various spatial and directional recording methods and constructed special microphone arrays. This allowed us to capture an acoustic portrait of the locations that corresponds to the natural human auditory experience.
The collection of acoustic and visual data was used to create an immersive art installation in which the public was able to experience some of these last untouched places. A listening room with a 32-speaker 3D sound system immerses visitors in the tropical rainforests of south and north-east India and the arid mountain landscape of the Himalayas, inviting them to experience three different classes of sound––biophony: sounds produced by non-human life forms, geophony: non-biological natural sounds and anthrophony: sounds produced by humans. A scenic video installation introduces the mystical dimension that resonates around these pristine remaining natural regions.

Credits:

A project by Nikhil Nagaraj and Felix Deufel
Photography and videography: Xenia Gordonia and Phil Jungschlaeger
Project manager: Spriha Nakhare

Tour 2022

13.11.2021 ZiMMT Leipzig
14.11.2021 ZiMMT Leipzig
20.11.2021 City Club Augsburg
26.11.2021 usus am wasser Vienna (cancelled)
11.12.2021 Shoonya Bangalore
12.12.2021 shoonya bangalore
16.12.2021 g5a warehouse mumbai
19.12.2021 the box pune

The Production was kindly supported by:

12hz Sound Laboratories
Goethe Institut
Goethe Institut Max Mueller Bhavan
ZiMMT e.V. 
The Isro