A new exhibition of wildlife sound at the British Library

BatChat

S4E45 - Bonus! This summer, in a major new exhibition, you can see how documenting the animal world has resulted in some of humankind’s most awe-inspiring art, science and sound recordings:
Animals: Art, Science and Sound is now open at the British Library
Part of the exhibition is dedicated to darkness and Steve got to have a preview of what's on show a couple of days before the exhibition opened. In this interview with Cheryl Tipp, curator of Wildlife and Environmental Sounds, Steve discovers what can be heard in the exhibit as well as what bat recordings lie in the archive. Hear the recordings of horseshoe bats made on one of the first commercially available bat detectors; the Holgate Mk VI and you can see this detector within the exhibition along with photographs of the waveforms it could make from recordings. It sits alongside other important works such as Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur (Artforms in nature) with the plate of bats on display. Cheryl also explains how you can submit your bat recordings to the library for adding to the archive.
The exhibition is open until Monday 28th Aug 2023. Tickets and all the information you need can be found on the Animals: Art, Science and Sound website.

• Follow Cheryl Tipp on twitter.
• Discover more about John Hooper on page 13 of this journal.
• Listen to the Holgate recordings of greater horseshoes again on the British Library archive page as well as Cheryl's recording of common pipistrelles.

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