The Great Animal Orchestra: Bernie Krause and United Visual Artists

Step into an immersive audio-visual experience that celebrates our planet’s rich biodiversity. Over the course of nearly fifty years, Bernie Krause collected more than 5,000 hours of recordings of natural environments, including at least 15,000 terrestrial and marine species from around the world.​

Trained as a musician, Krause found animal vocalizations in the natural world to be akin to musical harmony and orchestral organization. Krause’s soundscapes reveal that within any ecosystem, each species has its own acoustic niche and human activities are increasingly silencing these great animal orchestras. United Visual Artists (UVA) worked with Krause to visualize these recordings as animated spectrograms, which immerse us in the heart of these wild soundscapes. This unique installation makes a plea for preserving the wondrous diversity of the animal world.

In conjunction with the exhibition, PEM will present daily screenings of a newly released documentary produced by the Fondation Cartier and directed by French filmmaker Vincent Tricon in Morse Auditorium. Bernie Krause, A Life with The Great Animal Orchestra (37 minutes) illuminates Krause’s pioneering work as a musician and soundscape ecologist. Please note: Viewing times are subject to change based on daily programming activity.

Please note that due to high demand and capacity restrictions, there may be a wait to enter this exhibition.

Credit: Overview from museum website