Warm Earth Sounds for Plants and the People Who Love Them
Sound Installation
Salt Beyoğlu
June 5, 2024 – April 6, 2025
Winter Garden, Salt Beyoğlu
Photo: Mustafa Hazneci
Photo: Mustafa Hazneci
Winter Garden
Warm Earth Sounds for Plants and the People Who Love Them is a series of sound installations by Özcan Ertek, Fulya Uçanok, Ömer Sarıgedik, Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu, and Passepartout Duo. The program takes its title from electronic music pioneer Mort Garson’s 1976 album Mother Earth’s Plantasia.
Inspired by The Secret Life of Plants (1973), a book that explores how music and sonic waves influence the growth of plants, Garson recorded the album specifically “for plants to listen to” in the flower shop Mother Earth in Los Angeles and gifted to those who bought flowers from the shop. Drawing on Garson’s innovative use of synthesizers and electronic sounds, the series brings together sound and music pieces that aim to communicate and engage with the Winter Garden plants.
Realized as part of L’Internationale’s Museum of the Commons project and with the support of EK BİÇ YE İÇ, the program will feature five site-specific sound installations at various intervals from June 2024 to April 2025.
Özcan Ertek is a musician and artist from Istanbul, based in Berlin. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, he received his master’s at the Istanbul Technical University Centre for Advanced Studies in Music (ITU MIAM) and completed the Art and Media Program at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). In addition to performing as a musician, Ertek has produced works for various art spaces and sound studios. Since 2018, he has exhibited kinetic sound installations featuring new media and mechanics. His interdisciplinary work explores human-machine-nature interactions and the social impact of new technologies.
Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu is a cellist, composer, and improviser. Her practice centers on free improvisation, contemporary/new music, Turkish makam, and collaborative projects with interdisciplinary artists. She received her master’s degree in Music Theory and Composition at the Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory in 2016. In 2022, she completed her PhD at ITU MIAM with her thesis titled “A Practice-Based Research on Musical Improvisation: Collaborative Improvisation as a Play.”
Fulya Uçanok is a pianist, composer of electroacoustic music, and improviser. She studied classical piano at the Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory. She received her PhD from ITU MIAM with her thesis titled “Towards a Response-able Com-position Practice: Entangling with Humans, More-than-humans and Materials.” Her research interests include electroacoustic music aesthetics, instruments, and material agency practices.
Ömer Sarıgedik has been working as a sound designer for theaters, contemporary art institutions, and audiovisual media channels since 2005. He uses alternative types of sampling formed by the characteristics of noise, IDM, glitch, and abstract in his DJ sets and radio programs. Sarıgedik has two albums released by the label Müzik Hayvanı and continues his electronic music work under the name “oemr.”
Passepartout Duo consists of pianist Nicoletta Favari and percussionist Christopher Salvito. Utilizing a palette of electro-acoustic textures and shape-shifting rhythms, their work explores ways of listening and connecting with sound. Constantly re-evaluating the tools they use to create their music, the duo develops a unique ecosystem of handmade musical instruments, ranging from analog electronics and traditional percussion to room-sized textile installations and found objects.
Warm Earth Sounds for Plants and the People Who Love Them is a series of sound installations by Özcan Ertek, Fulya Uçanok, Ömer Sarıgedik, Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu, and Passepartout Duo. The program takes its title from electronic music pioneer Mort Garson’s 1976 album Mother Earth’s Plantasia.
Inspired by The Secret Life of Plants (1973), a book that explores how music and sonic waves influence the growth of plants, Garson recorded the album specifically “for plants to listen to” in the flower shop Mother Earth in Los Angeles and gifted to those who bought flowers from the shop. Drawing on Garson’s innovative use of synthesizers and electronic sounds, the series brings together sound and music pieces that aim to communicate and engage with the Winter Garden plants.
Realized as part of L’Internationale’s Museum of the Commons project and with the support of EK BİÇ YE İÇ, the program will feature five site-specific sound installations at various intervals from June 2024 to April 2025.
Özcan Ertek is a musician and artist from Istanbul, based in Berlin. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, he received his master’s at the Istanbul Technical University Centre for Advanced Studies in Music (ITU MIAM) and completed the Art and Media Program at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). In addition to performing as a musician, Ertek has produced works for various art spaces and sound studios. Since 2018, he has exhibited kinetic sound installations featuring new media and mechanics. His interdisciplinary work explores human-machine-nature interactions and the social impact of new technologies.
Zeynep Ayşe Hatipoğlu is a cellist, composer, and improviser. Her practice centers on free improvisation, contemporary/new music, Turkish makam, and collaborative projects with interdisciplinary artists. She received her master’s degree in Music Theory and Composition at the Istanbul Technical University Turkish Music State Conservatory in 2016. In 2022, she completed her PhD at ITU MIAM with her thesis titled “A Practice-Based Research on Musical Improvisation: Collaborative Improvisation as a Play.”
Fulya Uçanok is a pianist, composer of electroacoustic music, and improviser. She studied classical piano at the Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory. She received her PhD from ITU MIAM with her thesis titled “Towards a Response-able Com-position Practice: Entangling with Humans, More-than-humans and Materials.” Her research interests include electroacoustic music aesthetics, instruments, and material agency practices.
Ömer Sarıgedik has been working as a sound designer for theaters, contemporary art institutions, and audiovisual media channels since 2005. He uses alternative types of sampling formed by the characteristics of noise, IDM, glitch, and abstract in his DJ sets and radio programs. Sarıgedik has two albums released by the label Müzik Hayvanı and continues his electronic music work under the name “oemr.”
Passepartout Duo consists of pianist Nicoletta Favari and percussionist Christopher Salvito. Utilizing a palette of electro-acoustic textures and shape-shifting rhythms, their work explores ways of listening and connecting with sound. Constantly re-evaluating the tools they use to create their music, the duo develops a unique ecosystem of handmade musical instruments, ranging from analog electronics and traditional percussion to room-sized textile installations and found objects.
