Exhibition asks visitors to listen like an oyster

Combining acoustics research, animated graphics, robotics, performance, real-time data and marine ecology, the exhibit “Serenades for Settling” is an immersive, multimedia exhibition that invites audiences into an underwater world of oysters, and how human-made sounds might affect them.

In a recent panel conversation at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, where the exhibition is on display until March 1, Stephanie Rothenberg and Suzanne Thorpe, creators of “Serenades for Settling,” were joined by UB faculty members Tiffany Du Mouchelle and Anne Burnidge, who participated in collaborative research sessions during the project’s development.

The panelists described how their interdisciplinary research sessions became an immersive exploration of underwater soundscapes — and a reflection on how we inhabit ecological worlds.

“We’re experimenting with different ways to know phenomena that are usually the domain of science. So, it’s interdisciplinary, both in terms of collaborators and the different media and arts we’ve incorporated,” Rothenberg said.

One of the project’s starting points was a simple, unexpected question: What does an oyster hear? Though oysters lack ears, they sense vibration through their entire bodies.

Rothenberg, professor and chair of the Department of Art, worked with Thorpe, assistant professor of sound studies at Manhattan University, to study oysters’ reactions to sound. In collaboration with the Billion Oyster Project, a New York City-based nonprofit working to ecologically restore the city’s waterways through oyster repopulating initiatives, Rothenberg and Thorpe took underwater sound recordings near oyster reefs in the East River.

“Oysters listen through epidermal cells and an abdominal sense organ. They’re listening for the soundscape that tells them where a healthy reef already exists,” Thorpe said.

The team’s research revealed that oysters are highly sensitive to anthropogenic noise. Sudden, low-frequency bursts from ferries and cargo ships can cause oysters to clamp shut — a defensive act that interrupts feeding and reproduction.

“Our recordings showed how drastically different the underwater environments are,” Rothenberg said. “At Bushwick Inlet, the soundscape is calm. At 90th Street Pier, right next to the ferry station, the noise is overwhelming. The Billion Oyster Project hadn’t considered sound as a factor in restoration until we brought this to them.”

Visitors to the Burchfield Penney installation hear these real-world recordings of boat engines, the continuous hum of HVAC systems on land, toadfish vocals and air bubbles. Robotic oysters are also part of the exhibit, and Rothenberg says they respond dynamically to maritime data: As the draft of a passing vessel deepens, or its speed increases, the projections flicker into turbulence.

To further expand their understanding of underwater sound and to incorporate a human perspective, Rothenberg and Thorpe conducted a series of experiments in the UB dive pool in Alumni Arena with Tiffany Du Mouchelle, assistant professor of voice in the Department of Music. Du Mouchelle spent eight hours underwater performing extended vocal techniques while hydrophones recorded her.

“I’ve been experimenting with my voice in a variety of different ways, using technology and exploring interdisciplinary collaboration with performers and researchers, and creative artists such as in this collaboration here,” Du Mouchelle said.

Du Mouchelle is a classically trained opera singer who studied at the Conservatory in New York City. She has performed on six continents and has premiered nearly 100 works in collaboration with leading composers. She runs the vocal performance program at UB and has developed primary courses in vocal embodiment, extent techniques and interdisciplinary performance collaboration.

Du Mouchelle utilized all her experience to vocalize while underwater.

“It’s an unusual ecosystem for us. We’re made up of water primarily, and yet we are foreigners when we go into the water,” she said. “When I was improvising under water, I’m not just listening with my ears — I’m listening with my whole body. Underwater, everything shifts. The acoustics, the air, how I receive the environment. It’s a mindfulness practice.”

Du Mouchelle discovered that certain noises — clicks, hums and interior resonances — project better underwater, sounding more like marine-mammal communication than traditional singing. Her recordings are also included in the exhibition, and Du Mouchelle will be performing at the Burchfield Penney installation with Suzanne Thorpe in the final closing performance on March 1.

For Anne Burnidge, associate director and director of undergraduate dance in the Department of Theatre and Dance, the research sessions were an opportunity to merge her dual passions of dance and environmental science.

“I’ve made dances about chaos theory, bioluminescence, species extinction, and so creating dance about oysters felt perfectly natural,” Burnidge said.

Her choreography often explores these intersections of dance and science, including her new project titled “(un)Settling Place,” which investigates these aspects of noise pollution. Her process involved embodying the sensory world of oyster larvae — floating, drifting, seeking surfaces.

Working in the installation’s early sound and visual environment allowed her to embody the drifting, searching movement of oyster larvae. Her choreography for her upcoming performance at the installation is improvisational, shifting in cycles like currents. “Each time the dancers perform,” she explained, “they’re responding to new sounds and visuals, just as oysters respond to changing conditions.”

Burnidge says students played a meaningful role in the development of the movement vocabulary. “For many of them, this is their first experience with creative research. They’re not just told where to stand — they’re helping generate the movement vocabulary. Students who care deeply about environmental issues often find the work resonant and energizing.”

Burnidge and her dance company, Anne Burnidge Dance, will perform at 2 p.m. Dec. 14 at the exhibit at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. 

Throughout the panel, the artists returned to the idea that embodied experience is essential to understanding underwater ecologies.

“Thinking within the environment helped me understand noise pollution underwater in a way data alone never could,” Thorpe said.

Burnidge described the somatic dimension even more directly: “Is it something we read on the page, or something we can feel? For me, the body reveals layers that the data can’t.”

As the conversation wrapped up, the audience was invited into the installation to continue exploring.

John Malinowski, head of production at the Burchfield Penney, also encouraged audience members to spend time in the space.

“It’s one of the best exhibitions that we’ve had in our project space,” Malinowski said. “That space is our home for our experimental art that uses technology, and it really has pushed the boundaries of what the room can do. So, if you haven’t spent time in there, please do.”

“Thank you all for coming,” Rothenberg said in closing. “We hope you’ll join us in the installation. There’s so much more to feel and imagine.”