Choralography, 2025

Choralography is a spatial experi­ment that brings to the surface the bioacoustic landscape of coral reefs. Spanning several spaces of the exhibition Midnight Zone, the sound installation immerses the visitor in layers of oceanic sounds, challenging the persistent misconception of these regions as silent. From the rhythmic clicks of crustaceans to the diverse calls of fish, the distant songs of whales to the crackling static of microbial life, it reveals an environment where auditory conversation is as vital as light in shaping life.

In Choralography, Julian Charrière listens closely to these delicate yet essential systems of communication, opening a channel usually beyond the register of the human senses. The arrangement begins naturalistically, as if the listeners were just dipping below the surface of the water. Yet, as it progresses, the score becomes increasingly distorted. As the walls darken, an intensifying sonic uncanniness reveals the temporal dissonance between sound in water and in air, traveling 4.3 times faster in the former. As the visitor moves through the spaces, the soundscape itself undergoes a subtle but unsettling shift—evolving from a vibrant biophonic concerto into a sparser, more brittle acoustic environment, where anthropophony, the pervasive sonic footprint of human activity, slowly drowns out the natural voices of the reef.

This gradual erosion of the acoustic biotopes mirrors the realities faced by marine ecosystems worldwide, where human presence increasingly manifests not only through extraction and pollution, but through disruptive noise. It is a dichotomy where the life of the reefs is silenced, all while our anthropogenic presence grows louder. Yet reflected in Choralography is also the regenerative power of sound. This can be seen in a scien­tifically developed process known as acoustic enrichment, where under­water sound systems emit the songs of healthy reefs in areas that have become damaged or abandoned. This playback becomes part of a feedback loop that promotes increased biodi­versity—sonic beacons for sealife to return where it once seemed irrevocably lost.

Flowing between these paradises and dystopias, the work sets the tone for the exhibition, oscillating between the poetics and politics of the sea. An intangible yet deeply physical installation, it stages a dialogue between presence and absence, past and future, inviting land dwellers to think through water—and meet the deep sea halfway.


Credits
Composition and Sound Design: Nino Theys

Acknowledgments
The artist would like to thank the many scientists who contributed
invaluable underwater field recording and support along the way,
including
Ben Williams, Mars and Sheba (University College London);
Aya Naseem (Maldives Coral Institute); Freda Nicholson (Mars, Australia)
and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).