Sharjah Biennial 2025
32 Channel
Sculptural, Site-Specific Sound Installation
Abstract
The sculptural site-specific sound installation Palms
of Speculative Memories highlights the absence of life
that superficially dominates the scene of a dead palm
tree garden in Sharjah UAE, while reimagining the old
formation of palm trees as a new, living ecosystem of
sound. The installation consists of 32 metal pipes of
varying heights, each housing an individual
loudspeaker and an internal light sensor. The sensors
change the sounds in relation to the movement of the
audience as well as the shadows they cast inside the
installation.
The work connects with the trees’ deep historical
roots to reflect on anthropogenic transformation of
environments. The installation examines the
ephemeral nature of our perception of places — how
they change once we leave them behind and what
remains of a place when it exists only in memory.
At the same time, it highlights the need for active
engagement and a positive reimagining of human-
altered environments and ecologies.
Palms of Speculative Memories
The electroacoustic Pipe Instrument
The installation’s “orchestra” consists of 32 stainless steel pipes arranged in a grid. Each pipe fulfills multiple acoustic and sensory functions within the work.
1. Each pipe contains an internal loudspeaker, making it a discrete sound emitter within the multichannel composition.
2. The pipes function as acoustic resonators: their differing heights filter the emitted sound and shape its resonant frequencies, giving each element a distinct sonic character.
3. In addition, every pipe is equipped with a light sensor. Changes in ambient light — caused by the movement of the sun or by visitors moving through the installation and casting shadows — directly influence the behaviour of the composition at each individual pipe.
4. The pipes are also designed to function as aeolian instruments. The slits through which sound is emitted simultaneously act as the labium of a flute. When desert winds intensify, the pipes produce airy tones, each with a distinct pitch. These wind-generated sounds naturally frequency-modulate the electronic sound emitted from within.
The Pipe-Ensemble: Pitch, Spatial Layout, and Movement
The heights of the pipes are precisely tuned to form a dense and harmonically rich sound cluster that spatially unfolds across the grid. When a static noise is played through the system, the listener perceives a complex harmonic field distributed throughout the space.
As visitors move through the installation, the sound experience continuously shifts depending on their position. In this sense, the composition is not only temporal but also spatial: melodies and sonic trajectories emerge through the paths taken by the audience. The work is therefore multilayered, as sound, spatial arrangement, and bodily movement are always interdependent and jointly shape the experience.
Material: Translocation of Sound
The primary sonic material used to reimagine a living ecosystem consists of multichannel field recordings captured in active palm plantations and oases near the abandoned farm inside the exhibition site. These recordings were processed and combined with electronic sounds, including artificial insects and birds, before being relocated to the dead palm plantation.
This act of sonic translocation is a central conceptual aspect of the work. Beyond its symbolic dimension, it produced a surprising tangible ecological effect: the playback of bird and insect sounds attracted real birds to the abandoned site, potentially contributing to a gradual reactivation of the space over time.
Composition: Formal Structure and Interactivity
The electronic multichannel composition is based on a strict and reduced musical structure. Through interaction with visitors and changing weather conditions, this structure is continuously transformed and is never experienced in exactly the same way.
The core form consists of an 11-minute loop structured as A–B–A’–B’. The A sections evoke an imagined, diverse ecosystem, while the B sections consist of static yet highly spatialised sounds that emphasise absence, stillness, and the deadness of the abandoned desert plantation.
Running synchronously with the main composition is a secondary “shadow track” arranged in the inverted order B–A’–B’–A. Within the installation, the main track is always present. However, when a visitor approaches a pipe, the light sensor detects the change in light and distance, and the shadow track gradually fades in at that specific pipe only.
As a result, elements associated with the “living” sections can emerge locally within an otherwise static sonic field. Because this interaction occurs independently at each pipe and with multiple visitors simultaneously, the formal structure becomes increasingly interwoven. The relationship between main track and shadow track constantly shifts and never resolves into a fixed repetition.
CREDITS:
Artist: Hauptmeier | Recker
Curator: Zeynep Oz
Produced by: Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah Biennial 2025
Electronic Design and Programming: Hauptmeier | Recker