Sound, glass sculptures and hybrid objects make up the multimedia installation in Palazzo Reali by Dominique Koch, winner of the Bally Artist Award 2022.

The installation created by Koch for MASI Lugano immerses visitors in an imaginary dimension: an "ecosystem in dialogue" which brings humans into contact with both nature and technology. The works highlight Koch’s interdisciplinary approach, which often ventures into fields of scientific research. The artist uses special recordings to render audible environmental vibrations otherwise not perceptible to the human ear, sometimes transforming these vibrations into physical objects too.

Entering the room, visitors are enveloped by a multichannel soundtrack linked to the project entitled terratones. The work, developed by the artist in collaboration with the musician and composer Tobias Koch during a recent residency at La Becque, is linked to acoustic research in the field of ecology. Using bio-acoustic equipment – sensors, hydrophones and ground microphones - the artists have in fact captured the traces of sounds produced in the natural world by various organisms during their life cycle.

Some of the ambient sounds were also used to make the Sound Fossil glass sculptures: the artist used experimental processes with glass to "fossilize" the traces left by the passage of the sound waves.

The objects, recordings and sound fossils thus make up a universe of traces that the artist intends to leave to future generations as a record of our natural connectedness.