Rainforest Listening is an augmented reality project that layers rainforest soundscapes in iconic urban environments to inspire ecological engagement. Listeners access the sounds via mobile devices and sculpt their own soundscape as they walk through Paris.

At COP21 we brought the rainforests of the world to Paris and encouraged global leaders to listen to nature and take climate action. Rainforest Listening showcases one of the most critical environments on earth, the Amazon Rainforest. The installation features pristine sounds recorded in a diversity of ecosystems including lowland tropical rainforest with abundant wildlife. Listeners can hear the rich biodiversity of insects and birdlife and those who venture deeper into the sound maps can discover the endangered Amazon River dolphins or elusive howler monkeys hidden in iconic locations throughout Paris. 

The Eiffel Tower and surrounding parklands were transformed into an immersive sonic experience layering rainforest soundscapes over the breathtaking views of the city. Each observatory platform of the Eiffel Tower was interpreted as the four distinct layers of tropical rainforest vegetation through immersive soundscapes and original sonic art created exclusively for COP21 by multi-award winning Australian artist Leah Barclay.

Over 100 sounds were planted across Paris during COP21 at major side events including Petit Palais for Earth To Paris – Le Hub, The Global Landscapes Forum, The Hub Culture Paris Pavilion and throughout Le Bourget. 

To experience Rainforest Listening in Paris you need a mobile device and headphones. You can access the soundscapes via two free mobile applications Recho and Podwalk, with Recho being our core application for iOS and android users. The installations run 24 hours a day and can be accessed anytime throughout COP21. If you would like to join a guided sound walk or meet our team on the ground in Paris, please use the contact page on our website or follow #RainforestListening on twitter.

Rainforest Listening is produced by Rainforest Partnership, an international NGO founded with a mission to protect tropical rainforests by partnering with people at global and local levels to create lasting solutions to deforestation. Rainforest Listening is supported by HubCulture, the UN Foundation and Earth to Paris.

Birdsong has inspired composers from medieval times to the present day. Led by internationally acclaimed sound artist and composer, Ros Bandt, this project brings together the sounds of local box ironbark birds together with European birdsongs from Couperin to Biber and from the troubadour Bornelh to Blavet.

Performed by Trio Avium, Birdsong will premiere at the 2015 Castlemaine State Festival with Ros Bandt (recorders, soundscapes), Vienna-based baroque violinist Cynthia O’Brien, and Ruth Wilkinson (recorders, viola da gamba). As a modern take on birdsong, this project includes the first recording of the well known and much played Flight, Ruth's Magpie Remix and Fratta, a new piece for Cynthia telling the story of how the baby kestrels abandoned in her house in Fratta were saved. Trio Avium plays on the finest baroque instruments including recorders from the nearby workshops of Fred Morgan and Jo-anne Saunders.

VENUEC: Castlemaine Market Building, 44 Mostyn Street
DATES & TIMES: Sun 15, 6pm
DURATION: 50 minutes no interval
ADMISSION: $29 / $26

Further information and tickets available here 

Editor: Ros Bandt, Michelle Duffy and Dolly MacKinnon
Date Of Publication: Jan 2009
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-0111-9
Isbn: 1-4438-0111-9
Hearing Places: Sound, Place, Time, Culture

How do we hear and respond to place? 37 international artists and scholars have responded to this question from their unique perspectives, interrogating place as acoustic space where sound, place, time and culture collide. This book transcends the boundaries of geography, time and discipline through its imaginative and scholarly writings and CD, provoking us all to pay attention to how we hear place.

Dr Ros Bandt, International sound artist, author and senior research fellow in sound culture at the Australian Centre, The University of Melbourne where she directs the Australian Sound Design Website and online gallery, dedicated to audible research and heritage of innovative sound designs in public space.

Dr Michelle Duffy, Cultural geographer based at the Australian Centre, The University of Melbourne, whose research interests include the significance of music and performance to ideas of place, belonging and alienation.

Dr Dolly MacKinnon, Research Fellow, Historical Studies, The University of Melbourne. Author of "Revealing the Early Modern Landscape of England:Earls Colne, Essex" (Ashgate forthcoming), and co-editor of "'Madness' in Australia"(2003) with Catharine Coleborne.

Buy now here