Whispering Forest:
Where the Desert Learns to Listen
Whispering Forest is a site-specific installation composed of reclaimed, once-lifeless trees—remnants of ecosystems under strain—revived through breathlike whispers. As participants wander between the trunks, these fallen giants murmur with the fragile pulse of resilience and renewal, transforming the vast openness of the Black Rock Desert into a sanctuary of listening. In their presence, even the wind seems to pause, inviting a contemplative encounter with what remains, and what could still be saved.
Threaded through each trunk are wire structures echoing mycelium networks—those ancient, hidden pathways through which forests share nourishment, warnings, and memory. These metallic lifelines recall the unseen systems that sustain both nature and human community, hinting at the quiet intelligence flowing beneath every thriving ecosystem. In their glow, the installation evokes Axis Mundi: the living bridge between the visible world and the veiled, trembling layers beneath it.
Aligned with Orion as it appears near the winter solstice, the work draws strength from celestial cycles—those moments when the sky itself marks the shift from darkness toward returning light. This alignment transforms the grove into a breathing axis, a vertical passage between earth and sky where participants can gather, listen, and re-attune to an inner and planetary rhythm long drowned out by the noise of modern life.
Amid the dust of Black Rock City, Whispering Forest stands as both refuge and reminder: that the natural world, though wounded, still speaks; that renewal is possible, but only through collective care. It honors the delicate coexistence of technology and nature, urging a re-rooting—an act of choosing connection—at the threshold where human creativity, ecological awareness, and mythic imagination converge. Here, among these revived sentinels, participants are invited to reconsider their place in a living world that depends, now more than ever, on our attention and protection.
Whispering Forest is an ongoing project sourcing trees from around the world - Azerbaijan, Georgia, Latvia, Italy, Germany - and reviving them through custom bone-conducting sound technology. It began with my late grandfather’s mulberry tree in Azerbaijan, connected to a living mulberry’s electrical signals. The work honors memory and reveals how trees endure through cooperation—offering a lesson to humanity, so often divided by conflict.
When hugged, each tree releases a pulse of music that is felt not heard, it moves through the body like a living echo.