Umweltraum((a))
Laura Mannelli
Umweltraum((a)) is an immersive, perceptual world-space—an artificial, ever-shifting sound-marsh designed by sound artist Sonia Killmann and 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 reacts to physical presence: synthetic creatures made from repurposed electronics respond to touch, altering the soundscape.
During live performances, Killmann plays the installation like a living instrument, dynamically reshaping this dystopian, hybrid ecosystem. The sound composition, developed for a 5.1 surround system, uses psychoacoustic principles and modular synthesis to shift perception based on the visitor’s position.
Visually and sonically, Umweltraum((a)) blurs the line between living and artificial. Dark plastics, salvaged industrial materials, and rotating creatures like the Darwina Intertextere evoke a synthetic biology in a post-natural world. Despite its high-tech appearance, the work avoids AI or 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 hints at dual meanings: Traum (dream) and Trauma, envisioning a future where life persists through simulacra—sensitive, strange, and unsettlingly alive. See the Herbarium & Bestiary : https://lauramannelli.work/umweltraum-a/bestiaire_herbarium/
