Portals

Portals opens a passage into the hidden sonic ecologies of the Amazon, created entirely from hydrophone and ultrasound recordings made in Brazil and Colombia.
Capturing the inaudible—whether submerged in aquatic depths or vibrating beyond the limits of human hearing—Portals brings forth the clandestine voices of insects, bats, frogs, and freshwater dolphins. These animals communicate across frequencies inaccessible to us, operating in parallel realms of sound and perception.

Through careful transposition and processing, these alien soundscapes are rendered audible, inviting the listener into a speculative act of interspecies listening. In this sense, Portals is a threshold—a gateway into ecologies of communication that challenge anthropocentric modes of hearing. A sonic space opening where extinction, resilience, and the unknowable pulse of more-than-human life converge.

The recordings were gathered during two field trips, both marked by extreme droughts. The second unfolded amid the most severe dry season in recorded Amazonian history—a somber prelude to the devastating wildfires of 2024. As ecological stress reshaped the acoustic landscape, the urgency of listening beyond the human grew sharper.

Portals premiered as 32-channel composition on the GRM Acousmonium in Paris.