Umweltraum((a))
Laura Mannelli and Sonia Killmann
Umweltraum((a)) is an immersive perceptual world-space—an artificial, ever-shifting sound-marsh created by sound artist Sonia Killmann and immersive artist–architect Laura Mannelli. The installation invites visitors to step into a sensory bubble, as if entering the perceptual world (or Umwelt) of another being.
Inspired by biologist Jakob von Uexküll’s theories of subjective environments (Umweltraum), the work merges sound art, live performance, and ecological thought. Both interactive and performative, the installation responds to physical presence: synthetic creatures built from repurposed electronics react to touch, altering the soundscape. During live performances, Killmann plays the installation like a living instrument, dynamically reshaping this dystopian, hybrid ecosystem. The composition, developed for a 5.1 surround system, employs psychoacoustic principles and modular synthesis to shift perception according to the visitor’s position. Visually and sonically, Umweltraum((a)) blurs the boundary between living and artificial.
Dark plastics, salvaged industrial materials, and rotating creatures such as the Darwina Intertextere evoke a form of synthetic biology in a post-natural world. Despite its high-tech appearance, the work deliberately avoids AI and robotic automation, favoring low-tech strategies that critique technological fetishism and algorithmic standardization. Echoing James Bridle’s call for a broader notion of intelligence, Umweltraum((a)) imagines a relational, affective intelligence—emergent from experience, not computation. The installation confronts our shifting relationship to life, truth, and perception, ultimately proposing an expanded ecology where artificial lifeforms invite renewed attention and shared perception. Its title plays on dual meanings—Traum (dream) and Trauma—envisioning a future where life persists through simulacra: sensitive, strange, and unsettlingly alive. 👉 Discover more, see the Herbarium & Bestiary and listen to the project here: www.lauramannelli.work/umweltraum-a
Project Collaborators:
Artwork: Laura Mannelli & Sonia Killmann | Commissioned and Produced by Cryptic Glasgow | Supported by Kultur | lx – Arts Council Luxembourg and Luxembourg Ministry of Culture
