After Dark: The Sounds of Life
If we could listen to the secret language of the natural world, what would we hear? Tonight, learn about the scientists studying this question and their astonishing findings about the hidden sounds of nature. We now know that many animals—and even some plants—once thought to be silent have actually been communicating and conversing all this time. Tonight, inspired by the recent book The Sounds of Life by Karen Bakker, we will listen to these secret sounds, and learn about the scientists tracking them. Experience the impressive diversity of sounds surrounding us and their possible meanings, from warnings about predators to connection and community building and explore the inventive techniques and groundbreaking digital tools used to capture them. And don’t miss a performance by Ana Roxanne, created in close collaboration with recording legend Bernie Krause and drawing on his extensive archive documenting the music of wild animals and natural environments.
Image: "Princess of Wales' Parrakeet," from The Aviculture Magazine (v.5, 1888–1889) courtesy of the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
By Ana Roxanne
Join celebrated experimental ambient sound musician Ana Roxanne for an intimate performance of her piece IV Elements inspired by The Great Animal Orchestra, commissioned by the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in 2022. To create this piece, Ana worked closely with bioacoustician Bernie Krause to compose a four-piece suite, with each piece dedicated to one of the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water. The suite is a meditation on interconnectedness, subtle and grand beauty, the flow of life, and the cycle of death expressed through keyboards, guitar, bass, and the human voice. Excerpts from Bernie Krause’s soundscape recordings are layered within each suite, offering a new experience of his groundbreaking material. Roxanne’s own field recordings and poetry serve to supplement and highlight each of the four natural elements.
Ana Roxanne works at the intersection of electric meditation, dream pop, and ambient songcraft. Her inspirations span the secular (R&B divas of 1980s and ‘90s) and the spiritual (Catholic choral traditions in which she was raised), synthesized into a uniquely intuitive sonic language, equal parts atmospheric and ancient, healing and hermetic.
The Great Animal Orchestra was commissioned by Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain in 2016 and is now part of its permanent collection.
Food and drinks will be available for purchase at our Seaglass Restaurant and additional bar locations.
