The Insects are Present is a participatory installation by artist Lisa Schonberg that engages with insects and their sound to compose music compositions. Alluding towards Marina Abramović’s 2010 work, Schonberg’s installation asks audience members to spend an extended time listening to insects in real time, both through hearing and touch. Schonberg developed this modular system during field research in Oregon, the Brazilian Amazon, the Mobile-Tensaw Delta (AL), and New York, adapting recording and playback elements to insects and their sounds at each study site. Participants will be invited to contribute their own sounds to the work in an assertion of our ongoing connection with the insects in our shared living environments.

The installation will take place at Ellie Irons’ Lawn (Re)Disturbance Laboratory, part of NATURE Lab and the Sanctuary’s Eco-Art Trail in North Troy. Participants are encouraged to sign up for a listening session in advance at this form (or click the registration button below). A limited number of walk-in sessions will also be available. 

Dates/Times:

Friday Aug 11, 3-6 pm (during Collard City Growers Open Hours)
Saturday Aug 12, 1-4 pm (during People’s Health Sanctuary Healing Day)
Sunday Aug 13, Sunset: 8-11 pm
Saturday Aug 26, 10am-1 pm
Sunday Aug 27, 1-4 pm
Friday Sep 1, Sunrise: 5-8 am

Lisa Schonberg is a composer and percussionist creating sound works based on ecological research. Informed by her background in entomology, Schonberg is interested in how listening to cryptic sound can reveal and challenge assumptions about insects and other overlooked soundmakers. Since 2017 she has been collaborating with Brazilian entomologists on ATTA (Amplifying the Tropical Ants), a project investigating ant bioacoustics in the Amazon. Her other recent work includes investigations of old-growth forests in Oregon, endangered Hawaiian Hylaeus bees, mushrooms, and plastics. Schonberg’s compositions are performed by percussion ensembles Secret Drum Band, Antenna, & UAU, and presented as solo performance and installation. Schonberg presents workshops on methods for environmental listening, including workshops with Allie ES Wist for their collaboration Sensory Kinship of the Third Kind. She is the author of Text Scores for Getting to Know the Invertebrates, The Hylaeus Project, and the The DIY Guide to Drums, and has presented work or performed at FILE Festival (BR), the Pompidou, the Brooklyn Museum, Bosque da Ciencia (BR), the American Museum of Natural History, and Museo Reina Sofia (SP). She has developed her work through residencies at Labverde, the Banff Centre, Pioneerworks, HJ Andrews Experimental Station, and Signal Fire.

We are committed to lowering the barriers to access for events at The Sanctuary for Independent Media. For people who are hard of hearing or deaf, blind or low-vision, or whose physical limitations can interfere with a satisfying experience, let us know two weeks in advance so we can make appropriate arrangements.