The Sounds of the Dachstein Glacier
After taking over the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Bill Fontana's Silent Echoes project, which makes the bells of Notre Dame ring out around the world, has moved to the Dachstein ice caves in Austria. The sound of the bells echoes that of the melting glacier, highlighting the fragility of both monuments, natural and architectural, and warning us of the dangers of global warming.
Contrevue du glacier avec le lac en contrebas
Placed in a lake at the foot of the Dachstein glacier, hydrophones record the glacier's natural movements in real-time: the cracking of ice, the movement of rushing water, interactions with the aquatic environment, creating a broad range of underwater sounds. Luca Bagnoli, sound engineer on this project, explains, ‘We thought we were hearing mainly standard aquatic sounds, but what we picked up was something even more astonishing. Underwater, some of the sounds resemble animal calls, like birdsong, which is quite surprising. We also captured the crackling of the ice which, when you listen to it, sounds like it has been synthesised with electronic instruments; that's how precise it is."
Sounds of the Glacier, Captured by Hydrophones
In the cave where the installation is located, these sounds are mixed with those of the bells of Notre Dame, recorded in 2022, then broadcast through a system of 12 loudspeakers scattered dozens of metres apart: an immersive sound experience in which the sounds of the glacier and those of the bells interact organically.
Final Mix
This installation was inaugurated in the Dachstein ice caves during the Goiserer Musiktage, as part of the European Capital of Culture 2024. It will be available for tours of the cave, and will also be broadcast in a number of Austrian institutions.
Silent Echoes: Notre-Dame
In 2022, Californian artist Bill Fontana created a sound sculpture that mirrors a highly symbolic place. Silent Echoes makes a secret scene in Notre Dame perceptible: the ten bells vibrate continuously. By means of seismic accelerometers, installed on these drones during an acoustic campaign on France's most famous building site, the acoustic image of the cathedral and the imprint of a city are revealed and projected elsewhere.
