OrganicVolatilistationNearImperceivable

Organic Volatilisation Near Imperceivable at OVNI, Fribourg, Switzerland

Over two weeks in September 2022 I was invited to join Milena Farioli to explore the sounds of various fermentations including red and white cabbage, green beans, ginger, courgette (a huge one donated to the project by the neighbouring florist), kefir and mead. I recorded the whole process with various techniques and mics, also capturing some of the sounds from bustling Rue de Lausanne that OVNI faces onto.

One particular recording of the gases escaping from the jar containing fermenting red cabbage could almost be a noisy electronic music track...

This video collects the various fermenting processes using a macro lens to view the often tiny and subtle actions happening within the jars, combined with the recordings of each, captured with ambient microphones at close proximity to the surface of the liquid and the seals of the jars as they allow gas to slowly escape, plus contact microphones which were attached to wooden utensils that were placed into the jars.

The recordings have a second life as a released work published by the amazing Grünrekorder of Germany.

Please follow this link to hear and even download it for your listening pleasure. Headphone listening is highly advised, but also low level speaker listening will work with a quiet environment.

https://simonwhetham.bandcamp.com/album/organic-volatilisation-near-imperceivable

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Photos by Milena Farioli of the 'finissage' at OVNI, Fribourg, Switzerland

The results were presented as an installation that plays the sounds created by the fermentation process through speakers into the space, but also through the glass of the various jars used and also the plate glass window, as the project fermented inside the 'jar' of OVNI, looked into by the passers-by each day.