Summer of Sound

Wakehurst announces major new summer programme Summer of Sound, featuring six striking large-scale sound installations, offering immersive and mindful moments across the wild botanic garden

Highlights include:

• UK premiere of artist Marco Barotti’s robotic ‘woodpeckers’ creates a striking live soundscape activated in real time by signals from visitors’ mobile devices
• Giant wooden megaphones nestled in Coates Wood form a unique surround sound experience, amplifying natural noises from their atmospheric woodland setting, with mesmerising views of the meadows below
• Rare opportunity to experience Wakehurst at night in Summer of Sound: After Hours, featuring newly commissioned spoken word, special live performances, spectacular open-fire cooking and botanical cocktails
• Interactive workshops for children and adults include learning how to talk to birds, writing Wakehurst-inspired songs, and Deep Listening Walks led by participating artist Kathy Hinde

Weaving their way through Wakehurst’s wild landscape, visitors will discover a series of playful, innovative installations, each offering moments to pause and feel connected to nature through a symphony of sounds created or inspired by the natural world. Championing the rich diversity of Wakehurst’s multiple habitats, the artworks offer an incredible range of sonic encounters from catching whispers of the forest, to uncovering voices from deep underwater.

Launching the Summer of Sound experience is the UK premiere of The Woodpeckers (chime edition) from award-winning artist Marco Barotti. On entering Bethlehem Woods, home to Britain’s finest national collection of birches, visitors are confronted with a series of mechanical ‘woodpeckers’ attached to tree trunks. Exploring the relationship between technology and nature in a ‘tech ecosystem’, the installation invites visitors to pull out their mobile devices and watch as the invisible radiations emitted from wireless technology activate the ‘birds’. Responding to the emissions, the curious creatures ‘peck’ at chime bars generating a live composition that constantly changes according to the level of wireless activity around them, offering the chance for visitors to play with the intensity of the soundscape in the natural environment.

Moving deeper into Coates Wood, viewers will discover a large-scale mesh of fluorescent-coloured string, twisting and turning between trees to emulate a musical stave. A selection of handmade instruments crafted from metal, wood and recycled materials will hang from each line, drawing visitors’ eyes to the canopy of branches high above. Designed specifically for one of Wakehurst’s most atmospheric woodlands, planted with trees from Australasia and South America, Sound Wave is activated by the natural movement of air passing through the trunks and branches, creating a striking symphonic journey.

With spectacular views of the Wealden meadow flowers that carpet Bloomers Valley below, visitors are invited to pause in a bespoke installation designed by Estonian artist Birgit Õigus. Formed of three giant wooden megaphones each measuring 3-metre in diameter, the ‘bandstand’ amplifies the natural sounds that often go unnoticed deep within the surrounding woodland, to create a unique ‘surround sound’ experience. The megaphones create the perfect place for visitors to sit, escape from everyday pressures, and feel grounded in a peaceful, beautiful setting.

Nestled in a glade in Horsebridge Woods, home to Wakehurst’s giant Redwoods, Sonic Woodland: Glade forms a new immersive experience from Brighton-based Hidden Orchestra. Created by composer/producer Joe Acheson and spatial audio engineer Tim Southorn, the installation bathes listeners in the natural sounds of Wakehurst, played through a series of hidden speakers. Exploring the concept of symbiosis – the interaction between two biological organisms – the self-generating composition forms an infinite canon, giving voice to the natural world and the constant interchange taking place within it, from the trees arching above, to the underground roots below. Featuring cellist Rebecca Knight of the City of London Sinfonia, the unique composition promises moments of tranquility throughout the day.

Completing the line-up are two water-based sound installations from 2020 Ivor Novello Award for Sound Art winner Kathy Hinde. Emerging from the depths of the Wetlands and Water Gardens, Hinde’s wind-up metal Listening Horns will play soundscapes recorded in Wakehurst’s underwater habitats, revealing voices from subaquatic worlds. In Water Balance, a series of kinetic sound sculptures trailing through the Water Gardens, visitors are invited to reflect on the life-giving power of water. As water enters suspended metal tubes, the sculpture tips under its weight, with the passing flow chiming against small gongs, their hums resounding through the landscape.

Notes to Editors

Please note that Wakehurst is referred to just as Wakehurst, not Wakehurst Place. It is not a National Trust property.

Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex is home to the Millennium Seed Bank and over 500 acres of the world’s plants including temperate woodlands, ornamental gardens and a nature reserve. It is situated in the High Weald of Sussex, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and focuses on wild plant collections. The Millennium Seed Bank houses and protects seed from the world’s most substantial and diverse collection of threatened and useful wild plants, making it the most biodiverse place on earth. 

RBG Kew receives just under half of its funding from Government through the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and research councils. Further funding needed to support Kew’s vital work comes from donors, membership and commercial activity including ticket sales.