Grief of an Elephant
Sarah Elix, Madison Murray, Sibyl Li, Lindsey Sun
Interactive Sculptural Installation
2023
Elephants are highly intelligent social animals. They have the capacity to feel grief and practice their own versions of “funerals”, demonstrating their intense social bonds. One of the ways that elephants communicate is through the sensing of low vibrations in the pads of their feet. They are able to utilize the information gained from these vibrations to ascertain the distance of other herd members. This activation asks participants to stand without shoes in the footprint of an elephant, and experience this phenomena. While the participant stands in the sand, they feel a low frequency vibration that is synched to audio of elephant footsteps.
City Life
2022
In this activation, the listener is asked to close their eyes and meditate, envisioning themselves as a dog that has just moved to an urban setting. The architecture and lifestyle of NYC caters to human needs and frequently ignores animal New Yorkers that reside here. In order for humans to fully engage in empathy toward nonhuman animals, we need to be able to understand the ways that animals sense and "see" the world. Dogs have lower visual acuity than humans, but their auditory capabilities are much stronger.