Parliament of Streams: Turbine Chapels

Turbine Chapel explores the impact of hydropower plants on rivers and fish, immersing visitors in sonic representations of currents and disturbances in rivers. The characteristic “voices” of a river arise from water flow, sediment transport, and biological activity. Fish follow currents and continuously receive information from upstream through smell, touch, and hearing. Carlos Monleón likens fish to the rivers’ “eardrums.”
Hydropower plants significantly disrupt these natural processes. Fish are shredded in turbines and rapid water-level fluctuations caused by hydropeaking—the sudden release of water from water reservoirs—wash away spawn and leave juvenile fish stranded.
The sculptural sound installation takes visitors on a journey through these changes. It interprets how they “sound” and “feel” to fish. A choir and recordings from the Danube make it perceptible how rivers transform from flowing conversations into broken monologues, causing the oldest voices on earth to stutter.