Parliament of Streams: 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.
Photo: Carlos Monleón
Parliament of Streams: Turbine Chapel
Carlos Monleón (ES)
Language //
nonverbal
Ticket //
FREE / No Ticket
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Photo: Carlos Monleón
Carlos Monleón
Carlos Monleón (Madrid, 1983) works with a variety of processes and materials, living and non-living, that result in sculptural and participatory artworks. These span across different levels of bodily sensation and awareness; from the microbiological to the performative and social bodies. Monleón has developed projects internationally in different institutions, such as HIAP Helsinki, The Istanbul Design Biennial, Porto Design Biennial, Dutch Design Week, LUMA Arles, Matadero (Madrid), and CA2M.
Credits
Artist: Carlos Monleón | Sound Design: Santiago Latorre | Curation: Anne Faucheret | Team: Hektor Peljak, Laura Anninger, Viktor Hois | Artistic Director: Claudius Schulze | Courtesy: the artist & Arca Futuris, Hamburg Carlos Monleón conducted his artistic research with the scientific support of the Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management at the BOKU University Vienna. He was resident at PART International Art Residency Austria. | A project by the artistic research vessel Arca Futuris, Hamburg | This work was commissioned within the framework of S+T+ARTS4WaterII – Ports In Transformation with the support of the S+T+ARTS programme of the European Union under Grant Agreement LC-0269312.
