Swarm is a sound installation composed by 250 small speakers, each one reproducing the sound of a flying bee. Suspended in the exhibition space, those sonic devices offer us several listening experiences ranging from the group to the individual. The visitor is invited to approach these small beings and become part of the swarm, in an immersive sonic experience with the bees. It’s then possible to listen to those voices as many individual testimonies by these workers that tend to get unnoticed. We listen to their singing, their screaming or their chatting, in the way of an aerial choir.
The bees have been recorded with a sound recording studio specifically designed for them. We’ve been able to record their flight while they were foraging inside.
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Félix Blume (France, 1984) is a sound artist and sound engineer. He currently works and lives between Mexico, Brazil and France. He uses sound as a basic material in sound pieces, videos, actions, and installations. His process is often collaborative, working with communities and using public space as the context within which he explores and presents his works. His practice involves an extended understanding of listening, as a way to encourage the awareness of the imperceptible, and as an act of encounter with others. His work incorporates the sounds of different beings and species, from the buzzing of a bee, the steps of a turtle or the chirp of a cricket, as well as human dialogues both with natural and urban contexts. He is interested in myths and their contemporary interpretation, in what voices can tell beyond words.