Black Box Safari provides a window onto the microscopic world of the Arboretum – a glimpse into the incredibly diverse, beautiful, and engaging organisms which are crucial for the existence of all other life on earth.
The name ‘Black Box’ relates not only to the magnifying glass-topped boxes which offer a portal into this ‘new’ world (videos of microbes found at various sites around the Arboretum), but also to the fact that so little is known about the diversity of form and function of these microbes.
Therefore they are an ecological ‘black box’: we know their activities are very important in all habitats globally, but don’t know most of the biological details or processes involved in those activities. Such questions are central to my scientific research.
We plan to develop the Black Box Safari for future installations around the country, so comments and opinions from those who experienced our first outing at Art in the Arboretum are very welcome, either on this site or to me directly at the Natural History Museum: d.bass@nhm.ac.uk
Below are selected audio pieces recorded for the Megasporangiate Strobili installation in the Lodge at the Arboretum. These are all recorded within the grounds of the Arboretum during the three week residency, and consist of soundscapes and recordings of the artists talking beside their work.
(peacocks)
(Annegret Heinl)
(dawn chorus at the Arboretum)
(guided tour of the Arboretum with Joanne Matthews)
(Djamila Hanafi)
(Emil Dobriban cutting branches)
(Isabel Oestreich)
(4am at the Arboretum)
(Helen Edwards)
(Alison Dalwood)
(Brigitte Kohl)
(crickets in the meadow)
(Emil Dobriban)
(Ann Rapstoff)
(ducklings in the wind)
Sounds from 4.50am, Sunday 5th July 2009. Birdsong, the endless peacocks, deer barking – plus some crickets added from later in the day. Traffic is never far away even at that time on a Sunday morning.
Annegret Heinl at work in the Arboretum (photograph by Mira Marincas)
Artists and friends at the Reception at the Botanic Gardens, Oxford (photograph by Mira Marincas)
Brigitte Kohl presenting work at OVADA Gallery, Oxford (photograph by Mira Marincas)
Installation of the exhibition of works at the Town Hall Gallery, Oxford (photograph by Mira Marincas)
The name ‘Black Box’ relates not only to the magnifying glass-topped boxes which offer a portal into this ‘new’ world (videos of microbes found at various sites around the Arboretum), but also to the fact that so little is known about the diversity of form and function of these microbes.
