Talking Trees: A Nature-Responsive Grove av Natasha Barrett / Kunstbiennale /// Dikemark 2026

Talking Trees: A Nature-Responsive Grove is an outdoor sound installation shaped by the movement of the wind. In real time, it weaves together sounds from a Norwegian coastal forest and shoreline: creaking trees, swaying leaves and branches, woodpeckers, bees, insects and other birds, rain falling from wet leaves, distant motorboats and resonant sounds washing along the shore. These materials are enhanced to reveal qualities that often pass unnoticed, and are then blended with the existing soundscape and the sounds of visitors, who can choose to become part of the system by interacting with a microphone.

The work plays continuously, with real-time variations controlled by the wind.

Materials: Four loudspeakers, motion sensors, microphone, Raspberry Pi, Max/MSP with RNBO, tree bench and forest grove.

The work was originally commissioned by the 13th MOMENTUM Biennale, Gallery F15 (Moss).

Bio:

Natasha Barrett (NO/UK) is a composer, new media artist and researcher. She creates electronic and live-electroacoustic music, public-space sound installations, audiovisual works, and composes for soloists and ensembles. She is widely recognised for work with 3D sound and ambisonics. Her work is commissioned and performed worldwide and has received awards and first prizes in over 35 international competitions, including the Nordic Council Music Prize (2006). She has held professorships and research positions in Norway and Denmark, and now works freelance.

Photo credit: Eivind Lauritzen Galleri F15