The River Whithin
David Vélez
the urban+nature sonic pavilion
Curated by Giovanni Aloi & Chris Hunter
Presented by Experimental Sound Studio
July-August 2024
Jay Pritzker Pavilion’s Great Lawn in Millennium Park (Chicago)
https://www.antennae.org.uk/sonicpavilion
Underwater and subterranean recordings from the River Calder and its basin in Northern England draw attention and concern towards the sewage leaks that make it England’s second most polluted river. These sounds are evidence of the diversity of amphibians, fishes and plants in rural areas diminished in urban zones, a possible effect of pollution. This problem can stop if the contaminating water firms take action to sustain the river’s well-being, which they are failing to do, as researchers and activists emphatically point out. This fluvial body is the principal source for farms in the Calderdale and Kirklees boroughs, nourishing the growth of rhubarbs, pears, blueberries, potatoes, tomatoes and many other species that feed the community of this Northern England region. The Calder irrigates soil with high contents of carbonate, a product of layers of chalk stacked hundreds of metres deep since the Carboniferous period, 310 million years ago. Then, this region had an exuberant and healthy biodiversity comparable to the Amazonas tropical forest when Microsauria, Eryops, Diplocaulus, Labyrinthodontia, Nectridea and other amphibian families proliferated until a rainforest collapse extinguished them and many other life forms after a series of climate changes, which emerges as a warning in this artwork.
habitatsonoro 