terratones.fm, assembled out of a joint artist project by Dominique Koch and Tobias Koch during their summer residency 2022 at La Becque, Switzerland, and which resulted in a 30 day live radio broadcast and a series of glass sculptures.
The artists were exploring the acoustic ecologies of the area by collecting sounds from a series of microphones, including hydrophones, soil microphones, geophones, infra- and ultrasound microphones. This bioacoustic material was fed into a sound software, where it was combined with musical arrangements and then live broadcasted for 30 days nonstop. A series of sensors were installed on-site to capture plant, tree, and climate fluctuations. This data was influencing the live broadcast in real-time, affecting musical aspects and manipulations of the sounds heard. To expand their research, they spoke to the authors and researchers Eduardo Kohn, Jeremy Narby and Salomé Voegelin on ideas around sound, vibration and listening. Extracts of these recorded conversations fed into the live broadcast as well. Inspired by the idea of a weather station, ‘terratones.fm’ allowed the audience to listen in on the site and its changing environment.
As a second part of their project, the artists made a series of glass objects titled ‘Sound Fossils’. Using the vibration and air pressure of sound, an experimental glass blowing technique was employed to determine the shapes and form of the sculptural objects. A process that is a mutation of the sonic, creating physical remnants of the sonic environment, fossilized vestiges.
The terratones.fm project is now evolving as an open archive and an ongoing research, exploring sonic ecologies from diverse perspectives. It can be followed through its web presence that will be regularly updated and augmented and as well experienced as sound- and room installations in a museum context.
