Sperm whale polyrhythm
Year: 2021
Dimensions: Variable
Materials: Spatial sound system, large grey cushions.
Curation: Fabbula
Science Collaborator: Michel André
Exhibited at: Gaité Lyrique Festival Les Ailleurs 2021
Listen on Bandcamp (use headphones for binaural sound)
The Polyrhythm of Sperm Whales is an immersion inspired by marine biology research: the possibility of a sophisticated language among sperm whales. Beneath your feet, somewhere deep underwater, you soon hear the clicks produced by these marine mammals, assembled into rhythmic patterns we call codas. The structure of these short percussive sequences is unique to each group of sperm whales and differs from one ocean region to another. Sperm whales also use regular clicks, listening to their echoes off the seafloor in order to form a mental acoustic image of the depths—this is known as echolocation.
It is toward these regular clicks that scientists now turn their ears, seeking to understand their meaning. These sounds may be only the perceptible fragments of complex polyrhythms, exchanged and constructed collectively, whose orchestration reveals possibilities of intricate imagery—a kind of dynamic visual language, built together. The Polyrhythm of Sperm Whales brings together underwater sound recordings and electronic musical instrumentation; together they stage a journey from the surface down into the depths of these cetaceans’ acoustic universe. Down there, listening seems to become seeing, and conversation, an exchange of rhythmic variations—an echo of cicadas’ songs, who, like us, listen to the whales from the surface and perhaps vibrate with them.