Glenn Albrecht, environmental philosopher
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WHISPERING FOREST
IMMERSIVE INSTALLATION
HOW DO WE LEARN IN A DISAPPEARING WORLD ?
Whispering Forest
This work is an immersion in the Bialowieza forest in Poland, the last primary forest in Europe. It is an invitation to listen to and feel this Being-place, to resonate with it by diving into a landscape made of multiple realities, to feel alive at the heart of the Living.
The concept and the scenographic aspect of the installation were created by the French/Luxembourger duo G&K (Stéphane Guiran and Katarzyna Kot). Isotone provided the artistic and technical direction for all the digital elements of the project, as well as acting as co-producer.
A first unveiling
The work will premiere as part of the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire‘s 2025 art season, from April to November 2025. With over 500,000 visitors a year, this art center is a French and international reference for contemporary art and nature.
The G&K duo and Isotone have been invited to create a triptych exhibition including the immersive installation “Whispering Forest”, the screening of the documentary with the same name, and a series of drawings and photographs about the project.
A first unveiling
The work will premiere as part of the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire‘s 2025 art season, from April to November 2025. With over 500,000 visitors a year, this art center is a French and international reference for contemporary art and nature.
The G&K duo and Isotone have been invited to create a triptych exhibition including the immersive installation “Whispering Forest”, the screening of the documentary with the same name, and a series of drawings and photographs about the project.
Experiencing the invisible
This installation uses visual, sound, tactile and olfactory elements to create an emotional immersion. Inspired by the Symbiocene concept created by Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht, it invites visitors to experience, in a suspended moment, a space where life would be based on a human-nature symbiosis.
This feeling of diving into the primary forest was created by amplifying a scene from the documentary film “Whispering Forest”, in which vibraphonist Pascal Schumacher improvises beneath an installation created on site in the heart of the Bialowieza Forest. The performance was filmed in a way it could then be projected as a trompe l’oeil in the exhibition’s black room. In front of the wall showing the video of his performance, the vegetal sculpture was reconstituted in the foreground to fill the space.
Experiencing the invisible
This installation uses visual, sound, tactile and olfactory elements to create an emotional immersion. Inspired by the symbiocene concept created by Australian philosopher Glenn Albrecht, it invites visitors to experience, in a suspended moment, a space where life would be based on a human-nature symbiosis.
This feeling of diving into the primary forest was created by amplifying a scene from the documentary film “Whispering Forest”, in which vibraphonist Pascal Schumacher improvises beneath an installation created on site in the heart of the Bialowieza Forest. The performance was filmed in a way it could then be projected as a trompe l’oeil in the exhibition’s black room. In front of the wall showing the video of his performance, the vegetal sculpture was reconstituted in the foreground to fill the space.
The whole, and the sum of the parts
Real trees, mulch on the ground and a canopy of hanging branches on which hundreds of sheets of Japanese paper are hung allow the audience to immerse themselves in this dreamlike space with echoes of the forest. Slipping between these elements, the spectators and the musician, small luminous beings inhabit the area. Diffused by hidden projectors, these particles link all the elements of the space together, while serving as a support for the storytelling.
The spatialized musical creation extends the illusion between reality and invisibility. Based on Pascal Schumacher’s improvisation, this composition plays with the similarities between the sounds of the vibraphone and the piano used for this project. A granular soundscape unfolds over time, parallel to the video and its slow metamorphosis from figurative to abstract. Only a few spatialized murmurs and piano notes remain until the end, as they were here to carry the voices of the various beings inhabiting this forest.
The whole, and the sum of the parts
Real trees, mulch on the ground and a canopy of hanging branches on which hundreds of sheets of Japanese paper are hung allow the audience to immerse themselves in this dreamlike space with echoes of the forest. Slipping between these elements, the spectators and the musician, small luminous beings inhabit the area. Diffused by hidden projectors, these particles link all the elements of the space together, while serving as a support for the storytelling.
The spatialized musical creation extends the illusion between reality and invisibility. Based on Pascal Schumacher’s improvisation, this composition plays with the similarities between the sounds of the vibraphone and the piano used for this project. A granular soundscape unfolds over time, parallel to the video and its slow metamorphosis from figurative to abstract. Only a few spatialized murmurs and piano notes remain until the end, as they were here to carry the voices of the various beings inhabiting this forest.
« How can we learn in a disappearing world? Artists, filmmakers and writers all play their part, expressing the complexity and diversity of life. Our children will understand the extent to which our lives depend on nature by living alongside nature as much as possible, but also through artistic endeavours. ».
G&K
Our duo G&K (Stéphane Guiran and Katarzyna Kot) was born at the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, as part of the 2022 art season. From this encounter sprang the desire to embark on a common creative path, meditating with the Earth and proposing a different view of the challenges we face with climate change. We see tomorrow as a new chapter opening up, offering the possibility of imagining other ways of being in the world. The works, which resonate with Glenn Albrecht’s concept of the symbiocene, are born of listening to the memory and fragility of the Great Living Ones of our planet.
G&K
Our duo G&K (Stéphane Guiran and Katarzyna Kot) was born at the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, as part of the 2022 art season. From this encounter sprang the desire to embark on a common creative path, meditating with the Earth and proposing a different view of the challenges we face with climate change. We see tomorrow as a new chapter opening up, offering the possibility of imagining other ways of being in the world. The works, which resonate with Glenn Albrecht’s concept of the symbiocene, are born of listening to the memory and fragility of the Great Living Ones of our planet.
ISOTONE
After several years of collaboration between G&K and the members of the Isotone studio, this project has enabled a large-scale deployment of the techniques and intentions cultivated together over the previous years. Constantly on the lookout for contexts in favor of exploring a sensitive way of practicing digital arts, Isotone gladly accepted G&K’s carte blanche to design an immersive installation about the Bialowieza Forest, following the invitation from the Chaumont-sur-Loire estate for the 2025 art season. This project will continue to live with the studio for the next few years through the various evolutions that will keep the installation growing.
ISOTONE
After several years of collaboration between G&K and the members of the Isotone studio, this project has enabled a large-scale deployment of the techniques and intentions cultivated together over the previous years. Constantly on the lookout for contexts in favor of exploring a sensitive way of practicing digital arts, Isotone gladly accepted G&K’s carte blanche to design an immersive installation about the Bialowieza Forest, following the invitation from the Chaumont-sur-Loire estate for the 2025 art season. This project will continue to live with the studio for the next few years through the various evolutions that will keep the installation growing.
Funded by : FMC (Canada Media Fund), FFL (FILM FUND LUXEMBOURG), Kulturlx Luxembourg
Produced by : Jaxa Productions (Ca), Isotone Studio (Ca) ,IRIS Productions (Lux)
In collaboration with : Domaine de Chaumont sur Loire (Fr)
With technical support from : Hugo Ralet (Ca)
A special thanks to : Ariane Bélanger, Centre Phi, Myriam Achard, Les heures brèves, Owen Kirby, Chantal Colleu-Dumont.
