Sometimes we place too much value on what our eyes see.

“See By Your Ears”

Sound artist evala shows us how to “see with our ears.”

You’ll see in front of you a soundscape born in Marugame’s own “Nakazu Bansyouen.” A pond sits at the heart of this garden, with a stepping-stone bridge spanning its length. Microphones are installed at three specific points, recording sounds that are then converted into visualizations by way of evala’s own custom algorithm. Fish leaping from the water, the wings of a bird beating in the air, or the visitors own chattering voices and footfalls…

The garden constantly evokes many different sounds, mutually echoing and reverberating.

And these sounds become a living and breathing “painting of sound.”

At times, it calls to mind a cocoon and other times it shows a bird-like shape.

Please approach the image. You’ll notice that the panel is making sounds. They’ve all been captured from Nakazu Bansyouen for this sound installation. Some of these natural garden sounds have been cropped and reconstructed. They encourage us to “imagine” as much as they urge us to “listen.”

According to French writer and thinker, Jacques Attali, “For twenty-five centuries, Western knowledge has attempted to look upon the world. It has failed to understand that the world is not for the beholding. It is for hearing. It is not legible, but audible...life is full of noise...work noise, the noise of man, and the noise of beasts.... Nothing essential happens in the absence of noise.”

By nature, we perceive an overwhelming amount of information via sight. Thus, our perception isn’t limited solely to what we hear. Sound waves are constantly resonating with the water in our bodies, and our skin is always exposed to the air.
What happens when we open all five of our senses to the world around us?

We will take you to the source-- to the pride of Seto: Nakazu Bansyouen.