A TREE IS DREAMING OF UIRAPURU

2007|Sound installation in a tree, sound, 10 cassette players, solar cells.

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According to the legend, an extraordinary Amazonian bird Uirapuru sings only once a year, while building its nest. Even then, only from five to ten minutes early in the morning. Uirapuru's song is so beautiful that all the other birds stop singing to listen to it. Both in legend and reality Uirapuru represents a symbol of rarefied beauty and loneliness.

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THE INSTALLATION:

There are several sound modules hanged on the tree branches.Each sound module consists of solar cell and small cassette player. The solar cells are placed on the ends of the branches, thus using the tree structure which is optimized to capture as much sunlight as possible. Each solar cell is connected to one cassette player and it provides the electricity needed for the playback.

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SOUND:

Each sound module plays back different fragments of Uirapuru song, preceded and followed by silence. If all the sound modules would start at the same time, then one could hear the whole Uirapuru song in its originality. The speed and loudness of playback are dependant on the voltage coming in from the solar cell. Only when the sun will be in particular position according to all disembodied song parts, will we be able to hear the Uirapuru song. Then everything will stop.

For the rest of the time, the tree is dreaming of Uirapuru.

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First version realized at CMMAS institute, Mexico.