Calling Songs

Crickets, frogs, grasshoppers and cicadas – insects and amphibians that we know primarily because of their voices. Thousands of them are hidden in meadows and wetlands but all we get to see is a little wave in the pond or some movement in the grass.
Together they form a choir that tells us that spring has started. Males, seducing females, using their own species-specific frequencies.

When we listen carefully we can start to hear how the voices of this choir have changed over the years. Some new species introduced themselves, others disappeared silently. Just like birds, crickets and frogs are singing are tune about the speed at which our climate changes, about the quality of our water and our land, about biodiversity.
It is a song that concerns us.
We try to listen, we look for possible connections. Adding our voice to the calling songs of animals, creating a temporary composition for humans.

Depending on the place and the season we accompany the water frog, field cricket or the cicada orni. Early in the evening the audience will be brought to the concert location – a lake, or a clearing in the woods. The musicians of Zwerm are part of the scenery. Our set-up is wireless and powered by batteries.

For ‘Calling Songs’, we created a set-up consisting largely of small
experimental synthesizers, electric guitar pedals and other small sound
devices. When placed in loops these pedals have a sound potential that is
close to insect song. Together with prototype designer Pieter Verhees we
developed a speaker set-up consisting of several speakers with a shell
that are able to turn in all directions in order to project the sound 360
degrees.

concept & research Johannes Westendorp design & production speaker-installation Pieter Verhees music Zwerm research funded by AP Hogeschool Antwerpen coproduced by WALPURGIS supported by Oerol] and BioArt Lab with the financial support of Gemeente ‘s-Hertogenbosch]