Dive into the heart of the River Thames with ambitious contemporary audio art installation at the Natural History Museum

• The latest in the Museum’s free contemporary art programme, The River opens Friday 26 July
• The River, composed by acclaimed Norwegian sound artist Jana Winderen in collaboration with spatial audio expert Tony Myatt, will explore the sound world below the surface of the River Thames using underwater audio recordings, in a first-of-its-kind exhibition for the Natural History Museum
• Visitors will be immersed in a monumental 360-degree audio composition that will fill the gallery with sound, featuring underwater recordings made from one of the world’s most iconic rivers, highlighting the importance of sound in this habitat and the impact humans are having on it

London’s Natural History Museum has today announced The River by Norwegian sound artist Jana Winderen in collaboration with Tony Myatt - the third exhibition in the Museum’s free contemporary art programme – will open on Friday 26 July.

The River is a revolutionary new sound installation that will plunge museumgoers and art lovers into an immersive encounter through audio recorded in the depths of the River Thames, a first-of-its-kind exhibition for the Natural History Museum. Upon entering the dimly-lit gallery, visitors can give over their senses to the all-encompassing sound world of the Thames. The work has been composed specifically for the Museum’s Jerwood Gallery and will be presented in close proximity to the river itself.

Recorded by Jana Winderen using specialist underwater hydrophones, the installation will be presented in High-order Ambisonic spatial sound reproduction. From the ambient crackling of gas bubbles at the source by Kemble, the bustling industry of Central London and the sprawling estuary into the North Sea, listeners will experience a huge range of sounds created and heard by aquatic species.These sound environments evolved over millions of years into a finely tuned orchestra of underwater life, but are increasingly disrupted by the imposing noise of human activity, the impact of which we are yet to fully understand.

Jana Winderen is one of the world’s leading sound artists. Her compositions and sound installations have been exhibited and performed internationally in renowned institutions and programmes such as the MoMA, New York; the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Wuzhen Contemporary Art Exhibition, China; and the Venice and Thailand Art Biennales. Jana’s work highlights sounds often inaudible to the human ear and present in inaudible environments.

Jana Winderen, Artist of The River, says: “When I lower the hydrophones into the river, another sound-world appears: stridulating underwater insects, ticking of plant photosynthesis, grunts from fish and sounds from mammals, including us. We dominate the soundscape during thedaytime, but when you listen carefully, when most people are sleeping, or in areas less populated by humans, you can enter this exciting world of underwater sound.”

Blending contemporary art conceptions with vital information concerning the planetary emergency, the Museum’s Jerwood Gallery is one of London’s most up-and-coming contemporary arts spaces to connect audiences and artists to the natural world. The River is the third art installation to feature in the space, following artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg’s The Lost Rhino (2022) and Polar Silk Road (2023) by photographer Gregor Sailer.

Alex Burch, Director of Public Programmes at the Museum, says: “Art is a vital medium through which we can convey powerful messages about our relationship with the natural world. Jana has composed a poignant merging of art and science through The River which invites us not only to engage with an underwater environment most of us are unfamiliar with, but to consider just how much human activity has affected this vital habitat.”

The Museum’s Art Programme forms part of Fixing Our Broken Planet, a global initiative of events, exhibitions and online resources spearheaded by the Museum that explores howscientists are finding solutions to the planetary emergency for nature from nature. The River is supported by Jerwood Foundation and The John S Cohen Foundation.

The River will be free for all visitors to the Natural History Museum and will run from 26 July 2024.

Visitors should book a free ticket in advance online for guaranteed entry to the Museum. Members, Patrons and Corporate Supporters do not need to book general admission or exhibition tickets. Arrive at any time and you will have priority access.

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About Jana Winderen

Jana Winderen is a sound artist, underwater sound recordist and composer based in Norway with a background in mathematics, chemistry and marine ecology. Her practice pays particular attention to audio environments and to creatures which are hard for humans to access, both physically and aurally – deep under water, inside ice or in frequency ranges inaudible to the human ear. Her activities include site-specific and spatial audio installations and concerts, which have been exhibited and performed internationally in major institutions and public spaces.

Recent work includes The Art of Listening: Underwater at Lenfest Center for the Arts, Colombia University, New York, Listening through the Dead Zones for IHME, Helsinki, The Art of Listening: Underwater for Audemars Piguet at Art Basel, Miami, Rising Tide at Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, Listening with Carp for Now is the Time in Wuzhen, Through the Bones for Thailand Art Biennale in Krabi, bára for TBA21_Academy, Spring Bloom in the Marginal Ice Zone for Sonic Acts, Amsterdam, Dive in Park Avenue Tunnel in New York and Ultrafield for MoMA, New York. In 2011 she won the Golden Nica at Ars Electronica for Digital Musics & Sound Art. She releases her audio-visual work on Touch (UK).

For more information, visit www.janawinderen.com and www.janawinderen.bandcamp.com.

About Tony Myatt

Tony Myatt is a sound recordist, sound engineer and former Professor of Music and Sound recording at the University of Surrey, UK. He has collaborated with Jana Winderen for over a decade. Tony creates three-dimensional sound projections for sound installation art, film and live audio performances. Tony employs audio production techniques informed by research in human spatial perception, which are often employed to promote themes relating to the conservation of species and an awareness of rare and threatened habitats. His work has been shown in galleries, concert halls and public spaces throughout the world, which currently includes the UK and Catalan pavilions at the 2024 Venice Art Biennale and the Notes from the Sea Floor at Gasometer, Oberhausen Germany.