As part of the festival, the Schering Stiftung supports the production of the sound installation “Listening to Ballona – from a Natural History Museum of the Future” by the Los Angeles-based composer Daniel Rothman. The play-back mechanism of the sound installation, which visitors can only hear when they themselves hit the pedals, was developed in cooperation with the physicist and sound installation artist Andrea Heilrath (TU Berlin). The installation seeks to reveal a paradox: It makes audible voices of birds that used to live in an urban wetland area in Los Angeles that no longer exists today. Still, these recordings continue to be of major relevance for scientists who study precisely these animal species. Not least, the work shows that we are living in a scientific golden age that ironically goes hand in hand with the pillaging and pollution of natural habitats.

The bioacoustic long-term recordings were made possible with support from the Puffin Foundation and the Bruce Geller Memorial Prize of the Institute for Jewish Creativity.