The concept of Umwelt, or, the world as it is experienced by a particular organism, was coined at the beginning of the 20th century by German zoologist Jakob von Uexküll. According to von Ukxküll, every living being experiences the world in a different way, as a result of both its sensory perception and physiology, and therefore organisms that share the same environment but belong to different taxonomic orders, divisions, or classes (for example, bats, birds, bugs, and human beings) will experience their environment differently. Human beings, for example, do not have the ability to perceive sounds that are beyond the range of human hearing. We can only use technological manipulations to “translate” sounds that are beyond our auditory range.

Daniel Meir’s sound installation is comprised of recordings of Insectivorous bats (some from species that are on the verge of extinction) living in abandoned caves and bunkers along the Israel-Lebanon and Israel-Syria border; slowed-down recordings of ecosystems in swamps and ponds that reveal harmonies and rhythms beyond the range of perception of the human ear; and the “drumming” of wasps in a hive that was built around a contact microphone. Meir recorded, edited, and adapted the recordings for listening in the “Tea House” sound gallery quadraphonic sound installation. The project uncovers the auditory dimension of the lives of creatures that share our environment but whom we cannot hear, because their frequencies are above or below the human auditory range (ultrasonic or infrasonic).The installation was conceived in the framework of the exhibition “Land. Milk. Honey” at the Israeli pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale and continues via the artistic-investigative work of Daniel Meir in cooperation with Dr. Eran Levin from the Tel Aviv University School of Zoology. In parallel to the exhibition, an album of these works will be released on the label Halas Records (under the auspices of the Israeli Center for Digital Art).

From the press: Hear sounds of nature – The Jerusalem Post