How Forests Think is an installation for the Oerol Cultural Festival on the Island of Terschelling.
The work proposes a reversed perspective on our natural surroundings by exploring how they perceive us. A series of geophones, acoustic detectors that respond to ground vibrations generated by seismic waves, were installed on a forest plot on the island. Each geophone was connected to a custom digital amplifier that made soil vibrations audible and emphasized a specific part of the spectrum. Each amplifier was then connected to 4 listening posts with headphones. Due to the sensitivity of the geophones, this resulted in a series of real-time soundscapes that included the footsteps of people up to 50 meters away, the sound of insects near the sensor, and the vibrations of the wind passed on from the treetops via the trunks to the roots and the soil. Waves hitting the nearby shore would add a low-frequency humming.
In addition to the audio installation the work consists of a series of observation points with microscopic videos of soil samples and a circular contemplation space.