Hidden Life Radio Public Art Project Invites You to Listen to the "Music of the Trees"
7/28/2021 • 2 years ago
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Need a reminder that life is all around us? Then tune in to Hiddenliferadio.com to hear the biological process of some of our local trees.
Hidden Life Radio is a public art project from artist Skooby Laposky with assistance from the Cambridge Department of Public Works Urban Forestry. The project aims to increase awareness of trees in Cambridge, MA and the city’s disappearing canopy by creating a musical “voice” for the trees. This program is funded in part by a grant from the Cambridge Arts Council
Three Cambridge Public Library trees are spotlighted, including the more than 80-year-old copper beech tree in front of the Main Library, the honey locust tree at the Boudreau Branch, and the red oak tree at the Collins Branch.
Each tree has a solar-powered biodata sonification kit installed on one of its branches that measures the tree’s hidden activities and translates it into music. Hidden Life Radio’s broadcast is a musical composition unfolding in real-time and running 24 hours a day from leaf out in summer until leaf drop in November. Environmental conditions like weather directly affect how the composition is shaped.
The idea for Hidden Life Radio came after having conversations with Cambridge residents who were concerned about the disappearance of the city’s old-growth trees. Concurrently, Laposky had been reading Peter Wohlleben’s bestseller, The Hidden Life of Trees.
Learn more and listen in at Hiddenliferadio.com.