Knowing River Through Sound
First phase: VR film installation, 2022. (Best viewed in installation, YoutubeVR on VR headsets will give you access to a reduced resolution version).Second & third phases: multimedia performance (in progress and confidential).
In the Yoruba myth of Osogbo, Nigeria, people asked the river Osun for guidance in where to establish their city, Osogbo, when Osun said, “move the city until you no longer hear my voice.” The river’s voice, aural, metaphorical, or political, has largely been neglected in human civilization’s perception of the world and intervention of it, such as territorialization or urbanization. The river is not just a habitat for beings; the river is a being. As modern culture becomes distanced from nature and migration of people, organisms, water and land happen in history, rivers are reduced to natural resources or economic values to businesses. “Knowing River through Sound” is a multi-stage, multimedia art piece that asks the public to, as landscape historian Peter Coates has advocated, know nature through sound – listen to the river’s original voice collected by the artists, perceive beyond transcience, characterize the undescribable, and connect beyond the boundaries of human and nonhuman.
“Knowing River through Sound” VR film was shared during the Soma Salon #2 at MIT List Center of Arts organized by Gediminas Urbonas and Adesola Akinleye with communities of MIT and Harvard students and guests. The VR film elicited the response of moving and dancing in the river in many of the audience.
