Susurrus

2012

Work in progress

4 channel video and sound Installation
Length of the different films: approx. 10 min
Funded by EMARE-Mexico, European Media Art Network (EMAN), Werkleitz Halle, Goethe-Institut Mexiko, European Commission
Artist Talk_Werkleitz_move forward

A project about electric smog and the sculptural beauty of electric towers.
At the center of this installation is a sound that is usually inaudible or almost inaudible. The electromagnetic radiation from power lines – electric smog – surrounds us everywhere in everyday life. It is assumed that this radiation can have effects detrimental to health. Since we cannot perceive it, we repress awareness of its presence. In “Susurrus”, it is made audible in the example of the electromagnetic fields around land-based power lines.
2012 as an artist in residence in Mexico Maria Vedder filmed in different climate zones many landscape panoramas with land-based power lines. The noises of the respective electromagnetic fields were recorded with a self-built antenna on an audio recorder.
In the installation, one landscape is reproduced on one flat screen. Each picture is accompanied by the sounds of its electromagnetic field. Together, the 4 sound frequencies produce an auditory spatial composition. These tones, which suggest danger, contrast with the photographic beauty of the landscapes and the sculptural fascination of the electric towers.

The Latin word “Susurrus” means a rustling, whispering, or murmuring, but also an incongruity or absurdity.

“Susurrus” is part of a global inventory of interventions by the power industry in nature and landscape. After recordings in Germany and Mexico, Malaysia followed in 2013.