Have you ever been startled by the piercing shriek of a Car Alarm, disrupting the urban soundscape? Car alarms, designed to deter theft, often become a source of noise pollution, blending into the background din of city life. But what if this jarring sound could be transformed into something unexpected, even… natural? This is the intriguing concept behind “Natural Car Alarms,” an art project that reimagines the ubiquitous car alarm using the sounds of birds.
The idea for Natural Car Alarms was born from a moment of delightful confusion. Artist Nina Katchadourian, during an artist residency in Trinidad, found herself in a lush rainforest. Lost in the dense vegetation and unfamiliar sounds, she suddenly heard a sound that was strikingly familiar – a car alarm. However, this was no ordinary urban intrusion. Upon closer listening, the sound revealed itself to be a bird call, a perfect mimicry that blurred the lines between the artificial and the natural. This experience sparked the inspiration to explore this sonic ambiguity further.
Katchadourian’s “Natural Car Alarms” project features a flock of three cars, each equipped with a unique alarm system. These aren’t your typical blaring sirens. Instead, each car alarm is meticulously crafted from bird calls, modeled after the standard six-tone car alarm siren prevalent in urban environments. To achieve this, Katchadourian collaborated with the Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, accessing their extensive archive of animal sounds. She provided them with a recording of a typical car alarm, and in return, received a collection of bird calls that could serve as sonic replacements.
The selection process was crucial. The artist sought bird sounds that balanced the alarming quality with distinct avian characteristics. Crucially, the bird calls needed to mimic the rhythmic pattern of conventional car alarms – the sweeping cries and punctuated honks designed to grab attention. The intention was not to create a soothing or aesthetically pleasing soundscape. Instead, “Natural Car Alarms” aimed to replicate the disruptive and intrusive nature of commercial car alarms, maintaining their attention-grabbing, even obnoxious, qualities. The ultimate goal was to recreate the initial experience of auditory confusion, where the urban and natural sound worlds seamlessly merged.
The result is a fascinating commentary on our sound environment. By replacing the harsh, mechanical sounds of car alarms with natural bird calls, the project encourages listeners to reconsider their perception of both urban noise and the natural world. It prompts us to question the normalcy of car alarms in our daily lives and to appreciate the surprising sonic overlaps between technology and nature. The project effectively uses the familiar, often irritating, sound of a car alarm to draw attention to the often-overlooked sounds of the natural world, creating a unique and thought-provoking auditory experience.
