Vibes from Below

There is music in a spoonful of dirt

A teaspoon of any soil can contain a galaxy of biodiversity, and an amount of organisms the same as the entire human world population. Soil is often called "The poor man's tropical rainforest". In the artwork “Vibes from Below”, you can listen to music and spoken word coming from the earth, literally and figuratively. The concept and storylines of both music and poetic texts are devised in a close collaboration between Soil Biologists from Wageningen University & Research, and Dutch Sound Artist Remco de Kluizenaar. The main scientists are assistant Professor Marie Zwetsloot and PhD Giulia Bongiorno. The musical score is composed by Remco de Kluizenaar (with help from Bert Baggermans and Ruud Mourik) and performed by “stedelijke muziekvereniging De Harmonie” Wageningen. The concert is recorded to be part of the soundtrack of the artwork.

Ode to the Nematode

In the music (in analogy with Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf”) you encounter organisms with traits and functions you never knew about, like nematodes, anecic worms, thousand years old fungal networks suddenly fruiting into mushrooms, and springtails that can barely be seen with the naked eye and can ‘jump over the Eiffeltower’ (if you compare human bodysize to theirs and their half a meter jump). After spending some time with this artwork you will love every piece of land you know even more, now that you know what beauty is down there, right under your feet.