‘Dead zones’ are water bodies that suffer from hypoxia, low oxygen concentrations in the water that make marine life unsustainable. Hypoxia is caused by algal overgrowths, a phenomenon occurring when an excess of nutrients in the water sparks the proliferation of algae. The bacterial decomposition of the algae is a high oxygen- consuming process that depletes the amount of oxygen available for other species to survive. Although dead zones can form spontaneously, scientists have observed the exponential increase in their number since the 1960s and remarked that there is a causal relation between their formation and the polluting inputs produced by human activity. L𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘡𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 is a sonic contemplation over the disruptive impact of human activities on subaqueous environments. Sounds from the Arctic Ocean in Greenland, Iceland, and Norway as well as from the tropical waters around Thailand, the Caribbean Sea, and Panama have been recorded by Jana Winderen with hydrophones and composed in a richly layered sound installation. The work invites the audience to eavesdrop onto underwater soundscapes populated by various animal species that depend on sound to communicate, hunt, and orientate while shipping, oil extraction, military sonars, leisure boat traffic and other anthropogenic factors inflict acoustic distress on marine life.

Venue: Marina Barrage Rooftop, Singapore 018951

When: 14 - 23 Jan 2022,

By: NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (NTU CCA Singapore)