Fractionated ecosystem plots

From the collision with the crystals of different architectures due to the refraction of the natural landscape, and the effect this can have on the trajectories and aerial biophonies, aesthetic exercises are proposed to decipher and point out the anthropogenic influence camouflaged in specific urban spaces. A work that digs into science as a necessary source to delimit the inflection points between natural ecosystems and the Anthropocene, shapers of new ways of perceiving the natural landscape. It promotes a space to, through image and sound, reflect on alternatives to binomial thinking, and to evidence the alterations produced in the different ecosystems as an urban society.

The proposal is focused on the analysis of the phenomenon of aerial collisions that birds suffer against glass surfaces, mainly in cities whose architectural structures invade the space with buildings of crystallized walls and whose reflection produces hyperreal impressions or tunnels in the sight of the animals that collide against them. This work is part of a more general framework that addresses both the sonorous and corporeal impacts that anthropogenized landscapes generate in human and non-human populations that inhabit cities.

It is from this specific concern that an invitation is extended to all those interested in the study of the spatial reconfigurations that contemporary cities produce on the different species of birds, in order to consolidate an image bank, consisting of photographs or videos of natural-virtual landscapes reflected on the windows of different architectural structures in Madrid and Bogota, which arouse the artificiality of the landscape reflected in the windows.  

The base surface of the research project for the residency at Medialab Matadero, is based on the proposal of the Flight Tunnel, which is a scientific protocol of binomial choice, whose structure allows birds to fly either towards a direction in whose limit there is a control glass crossed by linear segments, or towards an area in which these segments are not. Behind both windows a "natural" horizon is exposed, which can easily be faked. The scenario, developed by Austrian ornithologists, analyzes the phenomenon of aerial bird collisions, caused by the reflection of fictitious landscapes on the crystalline surfaces of buildings. Birds collide with windows because they see a natural landscape made up of trees, sky, or clouds reflected on the outside of the glass, without realizing that a hard, transparent surface is between them and the open space in front of them (SEO/BirdLife). The tunnel makes it possible to identify the artificiality of nature reflected in the glass by means of linear patterns.

Sebastián Sandoval Quimbayo is a visual artist from the Faculty of Arts ASAB of the U.D. Master in Sound Art from the University of Barcelona, with studies in Sonology at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, The Netherlands. In Colombia his work has been exhibited in different galleries and cultural spaces such as the Salón Nacional de Artistas, Salón Regional de Artistas, Archivo de Bogotá, Artecámara, MAC de Bogotá, ArtBo among others. He has participated in residencies and exhibitions in Argentina, Canada, Spain, The Netherlands, Japan and Mexico. She worked at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá as part of the education department for more than three years. She has participated in different work teams in festivals and cultural events such as ARCO Madrid, ArtBo and La Otra. He has received several awards in the field of visual and sound arts such as the ICETEX scholarship for studies abroad, the Sala Alterna GSF Creation Scholarship, the FUGA Sound Plastic Scholarship or the Art and Nature recognition from the Ministry of Culture, among others.

Sebastián Sandoval Quimbayo
https://sebastiansandovalquimbayo.com/

Winner project of the call for Residency Plataforma Bogotá - Medialab Matadero (Madrid) 2022, from the collision with the crystals of different architectures due to the refraction of the natural landscape, and the effect that this can have on the trajectories and aerial biophonies, aesthetic exercises are proposed to decipher and point out the anthropogenic influence camouflaged in specific urban spaces. A work that digs into science as a necessary source to delimit the inflection points between natural ecosystems and the Anthropocene, shapers of new ways of perceiving the natural landscape. It promotes a space to, through image and sound, reflect on alternatives to binomial thinking, and to evidence the alterations produced in the different ecosystems as an urban society.