Bernie Krause and United Visual Artists, The Great Animal Orchestra

The story of The Great Animal Orchestra, a work created in 2016 for the exhibition spaces of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris

American bioacoustician and musician Bernie Krause has recorded more than 5,000 hours of natural habitats, including at least 15,000 terrestrial and marine species from all around the world since the 1970s. Poetic and scientific at the same time, this sound archive reveals the musical harmony and orchestral organization of animal vocalizations.

This book presents The Great Animal Orchestra, a work created in 2016 by Bernie Krause and United Visual Artists for the exhibition spaces of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris. It tells the story of the elaboration of this unprecedented immersive installation, from the recordings of the sounds of nature realized by Bernie Krause to their visual translation into a three-dimensional video installation by United Visual Artists. Combining aesthetics and technology, The Great Animal Orchestra simultaneously offers a sound and visual meditation on the necessity of preserving the beauty of the natural world.

About the Authors

Bernie Krause is an American musician and bioacoustician. United Visual Artists is a studio founded by Matthew Clark in London in 2003.

Gilles Boeuf is a Professor of Biology at the Sorbonne. He was chairman of the Museum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris, from 2009 to 2015, and is now chairman of the Scientific Council of the Agence francaise pour la biodiversite (AFB).

Hans Ulrich Obrist is a Curator and Artistic Director of the Serpentine Gallery, London.

Michel Andre is a biotechnologies engineer and Director of the Laboratory of Applied Bioacoustics. He is also a professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona.