Andre Svibovitch
Dendrosonic
Extended version 2026
Multimedia installation
Courtesy of the author
The title ‘Dendrosonic’ derives from the Greek word dendron (‘tree’) and the English word sonic (‘sound’, ‘acoustic’). The project reveals to the viewer an aspect of nature that becomes accessible to human perception only through technological mediation.
This work is based on audio recordings made with specialised equipment. Contact microphones sensitive to the internal resonance within objects captured sounds generated in trees by their vital processes – the movement of sap, evaporation of moisture and the rupture of tissue as the tree grows, etc. After repeated amplification these sounds became audible to the human ear. Geophones were used to record vibrations in the ground beneath the trees caused by growing roots, the movement of insects, and so on. These vibrations are transmitted through vibrodynamics built into the platform, allowing the viewer to feel them. Omnidirectional microphones recorded ambient sounds – the sounds of a stream, birdsong and rustling leaves. The visual portion of the work was created using photogrammetric scanning, a technology for constructing 3D models based on photographs of tree trunks and the ground taken from different angles.
The conceptual foundation of Andre Svibovitch’s project is based on the ideas of post-anthropocentrism – a current trend in contemporary philosophy that proclaims the ‘end of human exceptionalism’. Refusing to consider humans the centre of the universe, this philosophical concept recognises other forms of life, including plant life, as equals. Thus the artist not only makes the hidden side of plant life visible, but also allows the viewer, through new experiences, to reassess their place in the ecosystem.
