When a tree begins to suffer from drought, long before the effects become visible to us, it emits a sound like a dull thud. It is a sound produced by the air bubbles that, in conditions of water shortage, form in the conductive vessels of the plants, a phenomenon called embolism, similar to that of humans. The bubbles formed clog the conduits and prevent water from rising from the roots to the leaves, which can lead to the death of the tree. Using this sound, the scientific community can study tree mortality, the state of forests and how they are affected by climate change.

Embolism sounds like deaf clapping that demands to be answered. A transdisciplinary group between science, flamenco and the visual arts has listened to what trees say about human-altered climatic conditions. Using flamenco as a common language, they have created a series of human-tree dialogues to accompany species in this situation of global change.

This project has counted with the participation of Carmen Muñoz, Juan Carlos Lérida, Salvador Sánchez, Karen Mora and Bernat Jiménez de Cisneros, members of Acciones Flamenco Empírico and the Laboratorio de Investigación desde el Flamenco, and the photographer Ana Lorente.

The team is grateful to Stefan Mayr and Barbara Beikircher (Botanical Institute, University of Innsbruck), Sabine Rosner and Peter Hietz (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, BOKU, Vienna) for providing the embolism sounds; Ivette Serral and Romà Ogaya (CREAF), and the Botanical Garden of Barcelona.

The installation, also at the Night of Science

• The night - Embolism ‘por soleá’ - Installation

Related activity

• Embolism 'por soleá' - Performative dialogue