Sounding Esplanade
A commission from
ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music) for World New Music Days 2009
The sound installation Sounding Esplanade is part of a series of works focusing on the role cultivated plants and trees as well as weed play in urban environments (the previous parts of which were presented in Berlin and in Stavanger, Norway). “Sounding Esplanade takes its point of departure in some of the trees planted around the street Västra Esplanaden in the centre of the Swedish village Växjö.
These trees exemplify how cultivated plants are fundamental in modern city design in the same way as glass, steel, and concrete, but at the same time not considered having any real value of their own. They are regarded as "living material" - a term used within urban city design.
The installation aimed to change the view of the trees from “material” to “living creatures”, The trees were given ‘voices’ in the form of sonar ‘clouds’ accentuating their role and making them visible.”