The laboratory I: deforestation

This year's laboratory is a self-experiment: for the first time, we will be using a location - the Galerie KUB - as a field for experimentation over several days in the context of the Leipzig Jazz Days, thus giving scope to the innovative, risky and unfinished.

The lab consists of three events.

The focus will be on the interdisciplinary interaction of sound and visuals, of the human voice, acoustic sound and technological innovations, on the transfer of knowledge and on critical reflection on one's own perspective and the means used.

Maps make changes in the landscape visible: disappearing forests, shrunken biotopes, "white spots" in the ecosystem. Losses can thus be localized spatially and temporally - maps show where something is missing or has disappeared.

Lab 1 is dedicated to the topic of "deforestation" - the loss of forests - and addresses the question of how this area of tension caused by climate change, intensive cultivation, monocultures and deforestation can be experienced through the senses. It is based on global satellite data from over twelve years documenting the loss and growth of trees. The data was evaluated at a resolution of 30 × 30 meters. Every change in tree canopy density can thus be translated into a sound event. The aim of the project is to make processes of forest dieback and reforestation tangible through the sonification of scientific data sets and to make the changes in forest areas comprehensible over time. 

What will the forest of the future look like? Can digital possibilities and AI be used to generate a visionary force that leads to greater capacity for action? Or is it AI and its excessive consumption of resources itself that is leading us to our doom? Field recordings and voices of the forest blur with the human voice. Imitations - digital or human-generated - strive to evoke compassion and connection.