Acoustic equipment being retrieved with VLIZ acoustic team, North Sea, 2024 © John Janssens & Elise Guillaume
Waves of Resonance, 2025 - ongoing
Surround sound, 16 minutes (looped)
Waves of Resonance features marine sounds, including anthropogenic (human-made) noise, from the North Sea and the Arctic. By bringing to life sounds that are typically inaudible to human ears, Waves of Resonance aims to stir deep emotions like awe, which is known to strengthen our connection to nature and encourage pro-environmental behaviours. This project is the result of a scientific collaboration rooted in research on the psychological impact of listening to marine sounds. It is developed in partnership with environmental psychologist Marine Severin and acoustic ecologist Clea Parcerisas, in the context of the European Marine Board’s EMBracing the Ocean artist-in-residence program, which is an activity under the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
The sound recordings were made using a variety of microphones, including hydrophones and geophones, revealing multiple acoustic dimensions of marine environments. From the North Sea, we hear the sounds of waves, birds, fish, crustacean stridulations, and dolphin whistles. From the Arctic, we can hear seals, whales, the rubbing and melting of sea ice, air bubbles escaping from melting glaciers, vibrations emitted by ice…etc. Anthropogenic noise includes boat sounds from both regions, as well as metallic impacts and pile-driving sounds from the North Sea.
The sound montage of Waves of Resonance was influenced by research on the psychological impact of listening to marine sounds. This study, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Marine Severin, is based on workshops involving a diverse range of participants in the UK, Belgium and France. Workshop partners include the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), the Royal College of Art, and La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc Contemporary Art Centre of National Interest.
Waves of Resonance expresses itself through a series of iterations that continue to evolve over time. Similar to the research workshops, every iteration of the soundpiece will provide new insights, creating a feedback loop of new research for the next iteration of the project.
An iteration of Waves of Resonance is currently presented as a surround sound installation in the crypt of La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc as part of the artist’s solo exhibition Par le corps, currently on view until the 21st September, 2025.
Elise Guillaume records the sounds of glacier ice melting in the Arctic using a hydrophone, Svalbard, 2023 © Tamara Šuša.
"Elise Guillaume’s work bears the imprint of a residency in the Arctic, where the constant awareness of imminent danger lingers everywhere, quietly veiled by the beauty of the landscape — the shimmering of water, the cracking of ice, the song of distant birds... Everything seems calm, at least on the surface, but appearances can be misleading. Our gaze must travel further, descend below the horizon line. Perhaps it is a matter of listening in order to see... of closing one’s eyes. What lies in the ocean’s depths is beyond imagination, and largely inaudible to the human ear. Only highly sensitive hydrophones can detect its traces. What we hear in the crypt is an iteration of Waves of Resonance… The soundscape navigates between the water’s surface and the vastness of the deep sea. The astonishing — yet very real — porosity of our surroundings becomes palpable, as does the violence of certain anthropogenic sounds, such as the thudding reverberations from offshore pile-driving.”
Excerpt from the exhibition text Par le corps (Through the body), Martial Déflacieux, 2025.
This text was originally written in French. English translation by Marie de Ganay.
Production: The research and development of the project were carried out as part of the EMBracing the Ocean residency program organized by the European Marine Board. This residency is an activity linked to the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Co-produced by La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc, Contemporary Art Center of National Interest.
Scientific collaborators : Dr. Clea Parcerisas, Dr. Marine Severin
Support in cultural research : Pauline Lisowski (art critic and curator)
Sound recordings : Elise Guillaume, The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2021) : LifeWatch observatory data : Broadband acoustic sensor network in the Belgian Part of the North Sea, and Michel André, Laboratoire d’Applications Bioacoustiques, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech (UPC).
Sound mix: Grady Steele
Special Thanks : Michael Lunt, Britt Alexander.
To listen and for more information, please contact: eliseguillaume.studio@gmail.com
VLIZ acoustic team retrieving and deploying acoustic equipment, North Sea, 2024 © John Janssens & Elise Guillaume
Related Press:
2025
- The psychological impact of ocean sound with Elise Guillaume, Through Sounds by Anton Spice
2024
- Entretien croisé: Elise Guillaume et Pauline Lisowski, Revue Facettes n°10 – Les intelligences (p.84 - p.93)
- Alice in Warmingland | Last night nature saved my life, The Art Gorgeous, Selection & Text by Alice Audouin
- We all Meet in the Ocean by Anna Souter
