ANATOMY OF A SYMBIOSIS

Bio-sonification for radio broadcast, 22hr.

Software Design, Composition and Sound Design

Collaboration with Sasa Spacal

Sonification of a biological process resulting in a drifting ambiental electronic drones and gentle glitchy sonic detritus. The sound-form calls for a deep listening session while the underlying concept foregrounds the disruptive human intervention.

“Saša Spačal’s Anatomy of a Symbiosis is the outgrowth of a dynamic, living biotechnological installation, Symbiome – Economy of Symbiosis, originally presented as a generative 22 hour broadcast of the sonified data it generated, now edited and collected as a condensed listening experience, enabling wider transmission of the intrinsic messages and ways of being in the world which it invokes.
On the surface, one is listening to the audio artifact of the disintegrating symbiotic bond between soil bacteria Rhizobium trifolii and red clover Trifolium pratense caused by human intervention with the introduction of nitrogen fertilizer, eliminating the necessity for this unlikely and fragile collaboration which had developed in the deep past, hidden from human cognizance by its macro time frame and micro scale, buried within the earth.” – from liner notes by Brandon Rosenbluth

Anatomy of Symbiosis is an audiovisual artifact that captures pH data on the disintegrating symbiotic bond between the soil bacterium Rhizobium trifolii and red clover Trifolium pratense, caused by human intervention with introduction of nitrogen fertilizer. Such industry-standard agricultural practices eliminate fragile alliances that enrich the very soils on which all life on Earth depends. Eons-old symbiotic bonds, hidden deep beneath the earth and unnoticed due to their vast timespan and microscopic scale, support much of both human and other-than-human food production — its dissolution urging us to reconsider our role in reshaping Earth’s web of life.

Saša Spačal · sound, concept
Red clover Trifolium pratense and soil bacteria Rhizobium trifolii · symbiosis
Mirjan Švagelj · experiment setup, data collection and scientific consultation
Pim Boreel · software design and programming
Ana Čavić · poem proofreading
Tina Ivezić · graphic design
Miha Godec · photo
Brandon Rosenbluth · liner notes
Katja Kosi· proofreading
Luka Prinčič, Luka T. Zagoričnik · executive production

Anatomy of a Symbiosis was commissioned in 2022 by Radio Art Zone, a joint project by the artist duo Mobile Radio (Sarah Washington & Knut Aufermann) and the Luxembourg community station Radio ARA, which broadcasted for 100 days as part of the European Capital of Culture Esch2022. In 2023 the work was published as an album by Kamizdat.

Performances, Exhibitions, Transmissions
Beijing Art, Science and Technology Biennale 2025: Symptomatica | Horizon, Vestige curatorial team [Yunchul Kim, Jungyeon Park, Menger Chu], 798CUBE Art Museum, Beijing, China
Klanghain: Symbiosis and Networks, curator Lona Gaikis, Volkskundemuseum Wien, Klima Biennale Wien, Vienna, Austria
Are You For Real, ongoing web-based exhibition, curators Giulia Bini and Lívia Nolasco-Rózsás, IFA – Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Berlin, Germany
Anatomy of Symbiosis, Kamizdat, osmo/za, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Radio Art Zone, curators Sarah Washington and Knut Aufermann, Radio Ara, European Capital of Culture Esch2022

Free streaming, downloads (name your price) and limited edition USBs are available through our Bandcamp shop kamizdat.bandcamp.com.
Some rights reserved under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence www.creativecommons.com/licence
Production: Zavod Emanat s podporo Mestne Občine Ljubljana

PIM BOREEL