The Great Animal Orchestra

In 2016, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain presented the exhibition The Great Animal Orchestra, based on the work of Bernie Krause. An American bioacoustician, scientist and musician, Bernie Krause has collected more than 5,000 hours of recording of natural habitats, including more than 15,000 wild species from all around the world, for around 50 years. This unparalleled research has proven to be a rare insight into the unseen world of animals. It reveals the beauty and the intricacy of animal vocalizations, which are now in danger of being silenced by human activity. Through his recording, Bernie Krause implores us to start listening before hush descends on the great animal orchestra. The Great Animal Orchestra exhibition invited the audience to engage in an emotional and sensory experience through the appreciation of Bernie Krause’s most beautiful recordings, realized in Africa, America, and various oceans. Works of contemporary artists silently dialogued with Bernie Krause’s great orchestra, offering a visual reflection on our relationship to the animal world and the presence human give to animals in our society. A sound and visual exploration of the natural world, The Great Animal Orchestra exhibition immersed the audience in the beauty of the natural world. It also invited to a reflection on the environmental issues of the 21st century and on what led us to enter the “Sixth Extinction” era.
The catalog published in conjunction with the exhibition offers an aesthetic, scientific, and philosophical exploration of the animal world. Readers have the opportunity to discover Bernie Krause’s work and to reflect on issues related to the preservation of biodiversity through many essays by specialists. Including photographs, maps, diagrams, sonograms, as well as the works of the artists presented in the exhibition, this catalog is a true manifesto for the conservation of the beauty of ecosystems.