Flight of the Monarchs/Vuelo de las Monarcas
Robert Mackay (University of Hull, UK), Jessica Rodriguez (Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico), Rolando Rodriguez (Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico) /
ABSTRACT:
Flight of the Monarchs is a multi-‐screen audiovisual installation. It is inspired by the incredible 3,000 mile journey that the Monarch butterfly takes each year from Canada to Mexico, finding warmer climes during the winter in order to roost. There have been several theories as to how these tiny creatures navigate, including magnetism and celestial mapping. The most recent research shows that they have an in-‐built sun compass and chronometer which allows them to migrate in swarms of millions. Amazingly, they fly to the same roosts each year, often to the exact same trees. Their children make the journey back north in the spring, and their great-‐grandchildren return to Mexico the following year. In Mexican tradition, there is a belief that the butterflies are the souls of the dead, returning to visit each year.
DESCRIPTION:
Flight of the Monarchs is and immersive audiovisual installation inspired by the 3,000 mile journey that the Monarch butterfly takes each year from Canada to Mexico, finding warmer climes during the winter in order to roost. There have been several theories as to how these tiny creatures navigate, including magnetism and celestial mapping. The most recent research shows that they have an in-‐built sun compass and chronometer which allows them to migrate in swarms of millions. They fly to the same roosts each year, often to the exact same trees. Their children make the journey back north in the spring, and their great-‐grandchildren return to Mexico the following year. In Mexican tradition, there is a belief that the butterflies are the souls of the dead, returning to visit each year.
In recent years, the Monarchs’ numbers have declined steeply. Several factors may be causing this: logging of their roosting grounds, crop spraying, and climate change.
The installation is set up to resemble a hide in the forest from which the viewer can look out at these beautiful
creatures. It is comprised of four video screens (front, left, right, and top panels) and a 4 channel quad speaker array. These are embedded in a wooden structure evoking a hide.
Video and sound footage of the butterflies was recorded at the El Rosario reserve in Michoacan in 2015, trying to capture the beauty of these delicate butterflies and their surroundings. The sound for the installation is comprised of three elements: Field recordings which capture the rushing sound of millions of tiny wings; a specially commissioned poem (La Marcha de las Mariposas); and a recording of an improvisation session which we conducted in the open air in Michaocan on the same day as the recording of the butterflies.
The elements combine to give the participant a transcendent experience in an attempt to connect them with the butterflies and evoke a sense of place. The three layers to the installation each give a different focus on the same phenomenon.
Credits:
- Rob Mackay: Concept design, video recording, sound recording, flute, composition and mixing.
- Rolando Rodriguez: Poetry and voice.
- Jessica Rodriguez: Video editing.
- Alex Brook: Set design and construction.
- Manuel Zirate: Video recording
- David Blink: Hang.
- John Sanders: Accordion.
Supported by: The University of Hull, CMMAS (Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonores).
Thanks also to: Rodrigo Sigal, Alastair Borthwick, Pavel Drabek, Tariq Emam, Chris Jones, Alan Young, Matt Barnard, Steve Camm, Andy Hastings, Neill Warhurst, Tim Skelly, and Rick Welton.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIE(S):
Robert Mackay is a composer and sound artist. Currently he is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Hull, UK. Recent projects have moved towards a more cross-‐disciplinary approach, including theatre, acoustic ecology, text in performance, audiovisual installation work, and human-‐computer interaction. Prizes and honours include: IMEB Bourges (1997 and 2001); EAR99 from Hungarian Radio (1999); Confluencias (2003); Concours ‘Luc Ferrari’ from La Muse en Circuit (2006). robmackay.net
Jessica Rodríguez /mx Mexican. She is currently studying a Master in Arts and researching about algorithmic composition in México. Her work focus in video with an extended cv on working with composers.
Rolando Rodriguez /mx __Master in Contermporary Art. He has focus his work in the link between sound-‐text-‐image, working on performances and research projects about Expanded Literature, LiveCinema, Digital Literature and others.