The Great Animal Orchestra: The sounds of the natural world are krause’s canvas

Abstract

Visitors to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, lie back on low-slung couches and sprawl on the deep pile carpet. The theatrical space they are in is slightly larger than a volleyball court. A screen surrounds the audience on three sides, a 2-m-wide reflecting pool below it. The walls, ceilings, and floor are acoustically treated, and no outside sound or light enters the space. The visitors sit in quiet darkness. They are here for Soundscape Ecologist and Sound Artist Dr. Bernie Krause’s Great Animal Orchestra, an exhibit conceived by the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain based on Krause’s years of work recording in the field and his 2012 book of the same name.