Immersive Installation
Global Sunrise
For a brief moment the world seems to hold its breath – just before sunrise.
In this fragile threshold between night and day, the forest begins to awaken. Sounds emerge from silence, solitary calls ripple through the darkness, and gradually a living chorus begins to unfold.
'Global Sunrise' invites audiences to experience this moment across the planet.
The audiovisual installation is one of the central highlights of the exhibition „Mythos Wald“ at the Gasometer Oberhausen – once the largest gas holder in Europe and today one of the continent’s most extraordinary exhibition spaces. In this specially constructed sound space, a vast landscape of sound, light and atmosphere comes to life.
The installation follows the perpetual movement of sunrise around the Earth. While night still lingers in one region, dawn is already breaking elsewhere. From the forests of Müritz National Park to the rainforests and prairies of the Americas, the eucalyptus woodlands of Australia, the mountain forests of Japan and the river landscapes of Africa, a journey unfolds through the sonic environments of the planet’s forests.
With the first light, animals begin their dawn chorus. Nightingales, howler monkeys, lions and lyrebirds emerge like soloists in a global orchestra. Around them, the forest responds: insects, birds and mammals weave their voices into distinctive acoustic signatures of each landscape – the living soundprint of a place.
Renowned sound artist Chris Watson, one of the world’s leading wildlife recording specialists, has captured these morning songs from six continents and woven them into a composition that unfolds with the global sunrise. Tony Myatt presents the piece as a three-dimensional, 24-channel, Ambisonic surround sound experience, tailored specifically for this venue. Myatt, an expert in spatial sound, brings the multi-layered, dynamic morning songs to life with such clarity and spatial distinction that visitors feel as though they are standing in the midst of the world’s forests. Together, Watson and Myatt create a fascinating sensory experience in which visitors find themselves amidst a pride of lions defending their territory, beneath the warning calls of howler monkeys, in the presence of hunting hyenas or beside a nightingale just before sunrise. It is impossible to encounter the animals more closely or naturally through sound, and all without any danger.
Sculptural soundroom
Light as a living landscape
The visual installation by Theresa Baumgartner, Verena Bachl and Karsten Schuhl tranforms this soundscape into a poetic landscape of light and form. Vertically soaring light objects characterise the exterior of the sound space, evoking a mysteriously glowing forest edge, whilst inside a floating canopy of leaves refracts the light of dawn, allowing it to wander gently through the room.
„Global Sunrise“ forms part of a series of large-scale sound & light art installations developed by OCEANS21 in collaboration with internationally renowned artists including Chris Watson and Tony Myatt and Theresa Baumgartner. Projects exploring the hidden acoustic and sensual worlds of oceans and natural environments share a common intention: to make the invisible dimensions of ecosystems perceptible through sound, light and immersion. By combining scientific insight, field recording and spatial sound design, these works invite audiences to listen more deeply to the living systems that sustain our planet.
In doing so, „Global Sunrise“ becomes an invitation to rediscover one of nature’s most powerful moments – the instant when forests around the world awaken to a new day
At any one moment in time, a dawn chorus develops amongst trees somewhere on the planet. In the half-light, just before sunrise, a silver tide of song continuously circles the world.
Credits
Artists and team
For 'Global Sunrise' we were once again able to collaborate with our excellent team of award-winning artists, field recordists, sound designers and composers.
Sound recording and composition: Chris Watson
Additional sound recordings and spatial sound engineer: Tony Myatt
Light Installation: Theresa Baumgartner, Verena Bachl, Karsten Schuhl
Executive Producers: Diana Schniedermeier, Ina Krüger
Images: Michael Krautter
A production of OCEANS21 gGmbH
Commissioned by Gasometer Oberhausen GmbH
Find out more about the "Mythos Wald" exhibition on the Gasometer Oberhausen website.
