The installation Arabuko – Sokoke Forest is the second sound installation resulting from the project Forest Scapes. 

Seven sound sculptures hang in the room. They use the form of a butterfly trap, an object often used and seen in the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, a dry costal forest in Kenya. Within each object is sown a copper coil that together with a magnet function as a speaker transmitting the audio signals recorded in the forest. 

Visitors can explore the interaction of the audio recordings in the room. The sounds reflect the forest’s colonial past with Forest Reports from the National Archive Kenya recorded in the forest as well as atmospheric recordings of the present, interviews with people living in and with the forest and micro recordings of the trees with super sensitive contact microphones.

The sculptures are integrated into a composition in which each veneer has its own soundtrack. Each speaker is randomly selecting from an archive of sound recordings from the forest. The sound constellation in the room is therefore never the same. The different sonic materials are placed next to each other and can inform, merge and interrupt each other. The result is an ever-changing network of sounds that acoustically reflects the landscape of this forest in Kenya with respect to its colonial past but also its present, and the relationship between human and forest. The sound  is constantly creating new connections, driving processes and producing relationships.