Forêt Des Ondes

Forêt Des Ondes is a sound installation and a collection of VLF radio signals.

The first iteration of the project took place following a month-long residency at the Domaine Saint-Joseph, in Le Tholonet, at the foot of the Sainte-Victoire mountain in the south of France. It was hosted by Paysage Endormi, with the support of Lab Gamerz.
The installation was open to the public from April 5 to 7, 2024, as part of the Biennale d'Aix-en-Provence.

Using trees as antennas (the sap providing electrical conduction connected to the ground), the Forêt Des Ondes device captures and makes audible electromagnetic phenomena that evolve according to the ecology of the site: electromagnetic events in the magnetosphere, modulated by day and night, the nature of the tree, the local climate, and the influence of human infrastructure.
At Domaine Saint-Joseph, an Aleppo pine acted as the antenna: the sap provides electrical conductivity, a 4 cm screw allows it to penetrate the cambium to reach the sapwood and the sap. The perforation heals within a few weeks once the screw is removed.
The behavior of the antenna depends on the state of the tree: during winter dormancy or in cases of drought and water stress, radio reception would be affected. The antenna is a dipole connected to the tree on one side and to ground on the other. Without this ground connection, the receiver's energy triggers a feedback loop.

The listening module is made of a pine easel (a nod to the painters who frequented the Estate). It was built at the Gamerz Lab and houses electronics adapted from the VLF receiver designed by Marco Picinelli.

VLF waves (Very Long Frequencies) refer to the radio frequency band between 3 and 30 kHz. These frequencies, whose wavelengths range from 100 to 10 kilometers, are currently of limited interest for industrial technological uses, with the exception of certain submarine or spelunking communication systems, which take advantage of the wave's ability to penetrate water and ground.
They carry "natural radio" phenomena, linked to solar radiation and the Earth's electromagnetic field. The sounds one might hear are combinations of different elements, such as:

• Atmospheric radio signals: particles emitted by solar winds or the globe's electrical activity, striking the ionosphere. The crackles of varying intensities are called "sferics." More rarely, we can also hear "whistlers," flute-like, descending tones generated by thunderstorms at similar latitudes in the southern hemisphere, which have traveled to us along the Earth's electromagnetic field. In Aix-en-Provence, the Earth's magnetic field is “connected” to storm activity west of South Africa, in the Atlantic Ocean.
• Electrical interferences from the human environment: High-voltage power lines are probably the main cause of interference in Le Tholonet, even when they are tens of kilometers away. Continuous sound frequencies appear intermittently in the recordings and seem to vary in intensity and frequency depending on the weather. A large proportion of these signals are ultrasonic and inaudible to the human ear.

The montage of recordings available on this page documents the variations in intensity of atmospheric radio activity over 24 hours. They blend radio signals with the local atmosphere, captured by a pair of microphones.

Photos by Sébastien Normand