Waves of Resonance : Sound

Waves of Resonance, 2025 - ongoing
5.0 surround sound and stereo adaptation, 16 minutes (looped)

Waves of Resonance‭ ‬features marine sounds‭, ‬including anthropogenic noise‭, ‬biological and geophonic sounds‭, from the North Sea and the Arctic. Recordings were made using a variety of microphones to reveal multiple acoustic dimensions of marine environments. By including sounds that are typically inaudible to human ears, Waves of Resonance aims to stir emotions that strengthen our connection to nature and enact pro-environmental attitudes.

The project emerged from a scientific collaboration with environmental psychologist Marine Severin and acoustic ecologist Clea Parcerisas, rooted in research on the psychological impact of listening to marine sounds. A study based on research workshops co-led with Dr. Severin, involving participants in the UK, Belgium, and France, invited them to listen to the evolving soundpiece. Preliminary results indicate that experiencing the Waves of Resonance soundpiece decreases negative mood and stress, with participants reporting a high level of ocean connectedness overall.

Waves of Resonance was initated during European Marine Board’s EMBracing the Ocean artist-in-residence program, which is an activity under the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. As an ongoing project, Waves of Resonance evolves through context-responsive iterations, each generating new insights and creating a feedback loop for future developments.

For more information, please watch the video below:

“Waves crashing, ice fracturing, shells dragged by tides, whales calling, dolphins straining to be heard above the violence of ships, of metallic impacts, of pile-driving. Waves of Resonance, composed from underwater recordings in the North Sea and the Arctic, assembles these voices into a polyphonic field where human and more-than-human collide, overlap, reverberate.

Listening here is neither passive nor merely auditory. It is a demand to quiet down, retune, and learn to register the world differently. To listen with the body (not only with ears) is to become porous – like antennae immersed in a sea of vibrations, resonating beyond the thin skin, attuned to intersubjective currents. We are reminded: we are not separate.

Yet listening also reveals asymmetries. If we hear the ocean, how does the ocean hear us? Marine creatures live with and against anthropogenic infrastructures, forced to adapt to human-made violences. To listen is therefore an act of accountability: attending to what our presence disrupts, a willingness to respond, to alter, to be changed.”

—Excerpt by Chiara Famengo, from the exhibition text SUBMERGE (2025)

"Elise Guillaume’s work bears the imprint of a residency in the Arctic, where the constant awareness of imminent danger lingers everywhere, quietly veiled by the beauty of the landscape — the shimmering of water, the cracking of ice, the song of distant birds... Everything seems calm, at least on the surface, but appearances can be misleading. Our gaze must travel further, descend below the horizon line. Perhaps it is a matter of listening in order to see... of closing one’s eyes. What lies in the ocean’s depths is beyond imagination, and largely inaudible to the human ear. Only highly sensitive hydrophones can detect its traces. What we hear in the crypt is an iteration of Waves of Resonance… The soundscape navigates between the water’s surface and the vastness of the deep sea. The astonishing — yet very real — porosity of our surroundings becomes palpable, as does the violence of certain anthropogenic sounds, such as the thudding reverberations from offshore pile-driving.”

—Excerpt by Martial Déflacieux from the exhibition text Par le corps, (2025).
This text was originally written in French. English translation by Marie de Ganay.

Production: The research and development of the project were initiated during the EMBracing the Ocean residency program, organised by the European Marine Board, as part of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. The project was co-produced by La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc, Contemporary Art Center of National Interest, with the support of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
Scientific collaborators : Dr. Clea Parcerisas (acoustic ecologist), Dr. Marine Severin (environmental psychologist)
Research workshop partners: Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), the Royal College of Art, and La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc Contemporary Art Centre of National Interest.
Cultural research support : Pauline Lisowski (art critic and curator)
Sound recordings : Elise Guillaume, The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), Belgium (2021) : LifeWatch observatory data : Broadband acoustic sensor network in the Belgian Part of the North Sea, and Prof. Michel André, Laboratoire d’Applications Bioacoustiques, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, BarcelonaTech (UPC).
Sound mix: Grady Steele
Special thanks : Britt Alexander, Marie du Chastel, Michael Lunt, and the research workshop participants.

To listen and for more information, please contact: eliseguillaume.studio@gmail.com

Exhibitions
2025
- Visions at the Edges of the World, The Arctic Circle Assembly, Reykjavik, IS
- SUBMERGE, Five Years, London, UK
- Par le corps, La Chapelle Jeanne d’Arc Centre d’Art Contemporain d’Intérêt National, Thouars, FR

Talks
2025
- Waves of Resonance: The psychological impact of marine sounds, talk during Tipping Points event by De Jonge Academie, Brussels, BE
- Laser Talks Brussels: Shifting Grounds of Permafrost, GLUON, Bruxelles, Belgique
- Sustain Lab RCA, Royal College of Art, London, UK
- Par le corps, talk with Martial Déflacieux moderated by Pauline Lisowski, Cinéma le Kiosque, Thouars, FR
- Waves of Resonance: The psychological impact of marine sounds, EMB Third Thursday Science webinar, Watch a recording here.

Selected Press & media
2025
- Behind “Waves of Resonance” The psychological impact of marine sounds, European Marine Board’s Youtube
- Waves of Resonance, LifeWatch Belgium
- Waves of Resonance: The psychological impact of marine sounds, EMB Third Thursday Science webinar, Watch a recording here.
- À l’Écoute du Vivant, article par Pauline Lisowski, Revue L’Art Même n°96 (p.31 - p.33)
- The psychological impact of ocean sound with Elise Guillaume, Through Sounds by Anton Spice
2024
- Entretien croisé: Elise Guillaume et Pauline Lisowski, Revue Facettes n°10 – Les intelligences (p.84 - p.93)
- Alice in Warmingland | Last night nature saved my life, The Art Gorgeous, Selection & Text by Alice Audouin
- We all Meet in the Ocean by Anna Souter

With the support of: