Ana Carolina Rodrigues presents A Sonorous Expedition (partII), with invited guest Christopher Taylor.

A Sonorous Expedition is a sound and visual, ecological and social research journey in Panama as a transformation to the environment of the Maxilla Space in London. 

In Panama, Ana Carolina was based in the indigenous community of Guna Yala, which encompasses rainforest and covers much of Panama’s eastern Caribbean coast; the aim was to learn from the indigenous community ecological and sustainable ways of living. 

The show is presented under the A40, in North Kensington, one of the most polluted places in the UK and asks how we can recover our ancestral connection to the space around us and believe in progression without damaging our ecosystem. 

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In the exhibition space, the tropical and native plants are placed on former concrete pavements exhibiting the local soil that may or may not be contaminated by toxic substances. 

Sampled sounds from the Panamanian rainforest, ocean and rain play from one end of the space to the

other before reversing, reinforcing the experience of a distant nature. While the natural sounds along with the ambient lighting generate an atmospheric space they also evolve to violent storms foreshadowed by intense sirens evoking that our activity has affected the earth´s biogeochemical cycles.

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For the exhibition, Carolina collaborated with the artist Christopher Taylor for one of the radio broadcasts and a site specific-installation at Maxilla Space.

The exhibition is accompanied by three radio broadcasts on Resonance Extra on Wednesday 10th, Monday 15th and Wednesday 17th of October at 11 am.

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Supported by The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and ACAVA.

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Plants can live very well without us, but without them, in a few weeks, we would disappear

from the planet. And still, we like to think of ourselves as the special ones!

We even used expressions such as “to vegetate” to describe a condition of life reduced to the

minimum.

Our relationship with plants is one of absolute, primordial dependence.

They are really our only available resource for depolluting the planet.

 For example, in 1864, we widely start producing the chemical TCE; an industrial and drycleaning

solvent, to extract vegetable oils from plant materials and as an anaesthetic used

during child birth.

Its use was banned in food and pharmaceuticals once it was discovered that it may cause

cancer. However, TCE is now used in the plastic industries and has again become an

environmental concern for humans. It has begun to pollute a high percentage of water

resources, but recently we discovered that plants can safely absorb and break down this

chemical; depolluting soils and water.

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I read that where we were singing has the most polluted air in the United Kingdom; it is

mainly because of these tiny particles of soot emitted by diesel engines.

Unfortunately, when one has long-term exposure to these particles there is an increase in

early mortality.

I think if you hear past the singing you can hear in the background the noise of the diesel

engines driving by on the A40.

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