VISUAL SOUNDS OF THE AMAZON (2016)
Artist Andy Thomas makes what he calls audio life forms. These three-dimensional video animations respond to sounds, which Thomas sees in his imagination as moving shapes and colours, similar to the experience of a synesthete whose one sense can influence another. VISUAL SOUNDS OF THE AMAZON shows the sounds of birds that Thomas sought out in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. They become evolved, abstract shapes in bright colours, floating, pulsating, flashing, turning, accomplished compositions of flora and fauna. Aware that many people suffer from compassion fatigue, he hopes that his work will contribute to a new engagement with the fate of this immensely diverse rainforest. In this way, he brings together two fields that are often experienced as opposites: nature and technology. The clash between both forms a statement about the impact of technology and society’s progress on the earth and its natural systems.
