'Listening through the Dead Zones' at Singapore Art Week
14 January 2022 to 23 February 2022
‘Dead zones’ are water bodies that suffer from hypoxia, low oxygen concentrations in the water that make marine life unsustainable. Hypoxia is caused by algal overgrowths, a phenomenon occurring when an excess of nutrients in the water sparks the proliferation of algae. The bacterial decomposition of the algae is a high oxygen consuming process that depletes the amount of oxygen available for other species to survive. Although dead zones can form spontaneously, scientists have observed the exponential increase in their number since the 1960s and remarked that there is a causal relation between their formation and the polluting inputs produced by human activity. Listening Through the Dead Zones is a sonic contemplation over the disruptive impact of human activities on subaqueous environments. Sounds from the Arctic Ocean in Greenland, Iceland, and Norway as well as from the tropical waters around Thailand, the Caribbean Sea, and Panama have been recorded by Jana Winderen with hydrophones and composed in a richly layered sound installation. The work invites the audience to eavesdrop onto underwater soundscapes populated by various animal species that depend on sound to communicate, hunt, and orientate while shipping, oil extraction, military sonars, leisure boat traffic and other anthropogenic factors inflict acoustic distress on marine life.
Monday to Thursday: 8.00am to 9.00pm (last entry 8.00pm)
Fridays to Sundays: 8.00am to 10.00pm (last entry 9.00pm)
Green Roof, Marina Barrage
8 Marina Gardens Drive, Singapore 018951
The sound installation is located on the Green Roof at Marina Barrage, above the Sustainable Singapore Gallery, accessible either via the walking ramp or the elevator. Once on the rooftop, visitors will find the work in the proximity of the glass house, on the southern edge of the rooftop. Visitors are encouraged to take the time to pause and experience Listening Through the Dead Zones while facing the open sea.
Listening Through the Dead Zones is an IHME Helsinki Commission 2020.
