4 part soundscape for underwater speaker & 4-channel speaker installation 2024
Upokohue: A Subaquatic Symphony for Whakaraupō invites its audience to experience the underwater soundscape in a 4-part sound work. All sounds were recorded underwater using hydrophones by the artist, marine researchers and Lyttelton Port Company. All the human noise was made there and all the species heard are currently found there. The audience listens to the work underwater for a fully embodied sensory immersion in a more-than- human world we rarely hear, and also viscerally experience the impact of human noise pollution. The work also features the reconstruction of a bubble curtain now used by the Lyttelton Port Company to dampen the noise of the building work that was found to make upokohue leave the area.
The soundscapes shared below are a stereo mix of the 4-channel version mixed for above water listening.
1st Movement: The many songs of Tangaroa
Submerge your ears and hearts beneath the surface of Whakaraupō’s waters and hear the songs if its inhabitants: the fizz of seaweed photosynthesising as kelp forests are restored; the surprising cries and creaks of kōura; and a cacophony of chirps, squeaks and pops of an underwater dusk chorus.
2nd Movement: Aquatic kōrero
Upokohue Hector’s Dolphin, calls this harbour home. Using high pitched clicks it navigates, feeds and converses with its companions here. Upokohue are joined by various visitors throughout the year, other dolphins and whales who also use sound to communicate and find their way.
3rd Movement: Anthropogenic minuet
Humans arrive. First with the quiet rhythm of waka paddles through water, then the creak of large colonial sailing ships. Now a noisy working port, mended and extended by crashing piles as roaring container ships bringing more goods than we might need and cruise ships entertain.
4th Movement: Tautitotito, karakia for our future
The intermittent song of the Upokohue crescendos around 170 decibels. The persistent drone of a container ship can blast close to 190 decibels. As bubbles muffle the sound of pile driving and a strident ship leaves the harbour, in this sanctuary for Upokohue, what songs do we want to hear, and how might we still hear them?