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Library Exhibition: Sonus Maris

6 February – 5 May 2023
8.00am – 6.00pm AEDT
Level 5, UNSW Main Library
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Photo looking down on a coastline and lagoon against a cloudy sky

Sonus Maris is an exhibition navigating the intersections between land, art and science emerging from an ongoing collaboration between artist Dr. Nigel Helyer and scientists from the UNSW Water Research Laboratory (WRL).

Working in close partnership with WRL researcher Dr. Tino Heimhuber, Helyer employs audio-visual media to reinterpret data charting the unique dynamics of intermittently closed and open lakes and lagoons (ICOLLs). Through data archaeology and a novel algorithm, Heimhuber extracts valuable information from a three-decade archive of public satellite imagery, drawing attention to long-term variations in these crucial sites.

In Sonus Maris, this detail-rich source material is composed into a musical score, inviting audiences to rethink knowledge systems by seeing, feeling, and hearing the flows and patterns of coastal environments.