It Sings to the Sound of Engines

Making the Invisible Visible is a multi-layered, multi-format, multi-discipline communication campaign whose main aim is protection of underwater biodiversity. The main objective of the action is to translate complex scientific data into language understandable to a wider public in order to better understand environmental threats and the benefits of nature protection regulations. The campaign builds on the opportunities protection creates for ecological recovery and nature’s capacity to regenerate, while recognising the threats that can undermine its effectiveness: coastal construction, nautical tourism and sea traffic, rising sea levels, and overfishing. The backbone of the project is the naturally occuring Island-Trapped Waves phenomenon and the local and scientific communities working in tandem in order to instate a specific protection zone.

The work It Sings to the Sound of Engines is an audio installation created by Francisca Rocha Gonçalves which uses the underwater sound recordings captured by divers during the ITWs Lastovo research and examines sound pollution around the island. By capturing the sounds of the underwater flora and fauna, but also the sounds of engines and propellers which disrupt the natural soundscapes of the deep, it raises questions about a problem which is still not talked about enough in coastal areas.