We focus on the heroic and storied oyster because it’s one of the most vital members of our ecosystem. For instance, a single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day. In addition, oyster reefs provide necessary protection to our shorelines from sea rise, and they continue to be a nutritious part of many species’ diets. Then there is evidence that oysters are highly sensitive to sound. We are compelled by recent research that shows that oysters sense safe habitats for settlement and reproduction by detecting specific sound signatures within underwater soundscapes. This research also indicates that it’s likely that human-induced noise, through shipping, drilling, and construction, poses potential disturbances to oyster populations as they seek to settle and reproduce.   

Serenades for Settling invites audiences into a sensorial ecological narrative told through the listening bodies of oysters. The installation simulates an underwater environment by converging field recordings from oyster reef field stations in New York City’s East River and synthesized sounds with computer-generated visualizations of an oyster habitat. The audio and visual components are driven by marine traffic and maritime meteorological data gathered from field station locations as well.

In addition, sculptural oyster reefs are situated throughout the installation, housing robotic oysters at different life stages. These oysters respond to direct and ambient sounds, as well as to marine traffic data that signals noisy vessels. When loud sounds hit specific frequencies, robotic oysters may close their shells, reopening once the noise subsides or when serenaded. These movements and gestures are based on scientific research that demonstrates that oysters have distinct responses to particular sounds

The sonorously speculative oyster habitat of Serenades for Settling (Tending Ostreidae) encourages participants to listen to, and sense, what oysters hear. Through the simulated sense of this sonically navigating being, we ask: how do we listen for safe harbors, and what do they sound like? How do we tend to the more-than-human-world and how does it tend to us? And can listening with oysters guide us to a politics of interspecies mutual tending?  

This exhibition also features listening engagements and performances focused on sound and somatic movement. 

The project was created through aquatic research with the Billion Oyster Project (billionoysterproject.org), a NYC-based nonprofit working to ecologically restore the city’s waterways through oyster repopulating initiatives. Funding and support have been provided by the following: New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), 2022 Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center New Works and Creative Residency, 2023 Soil Factory Artist Residency, 2024 FEED.art Artist Residency, University at Buffalo Department of Art, University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, University at Buffalo Center for Embodied Autonomy and Robotics (CEAR) and Professor Karthik Dantu (robotic oyster design), Manhattan University Kakos School of Arts and Sciences, Funds from the Media Arts Assistance Fund, a regrant partnership of the New York State Council on the Arts Electronic Media and Film Program and Wave Farm, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and proceeds raised by Marina Zurkow and Ira Greenberg’s The Dorises – Oystercraft from Silicon to Saltwater. 3D modeling and interaction design is by Beautiful Machine. An earlier iteration was created with support from artist Silvia Ruzanka and sound artist Travis Johns.