In Vila Nova de Famalicão, the trees that fell in winter were transformed by music and reborn. We attuned our senses to the reverberations of Parque da Devesa, resulting in the sound sculpture Metamorfose, an artistic work that aims to enable a dialogue of sound and vision.
Between people and with the park. Metamorfose seeks a poetic, practical and “personalised” approach to the park, a process of living elements constantly mutating over different timescales. The concept is based on the transformation of dead trees as they are “reborn” in the form of a sculptural ensemble that combines the wood of the trunks with metal bells of various sizes. The possibility of people moving between objects invites informal interaction, a kind of stroll or amble, but the spatial relations between the pieces also allows people to make music together.
Memory, inscribed upon tree rings, supports an exercise in imagination that enables multiple contemplative readings as well as the concrete objective of allowing expression and musical/sonic creation with a complex set of sounds—some with clear pitches, others with resonant patterns similar to gongs and cymbals—encouraging, above all, a dialogue with the soundscape. In March 2017, we made Saudação da Primavera (Spring Salutation) to launch the sculptural ensemble that murmurs the song of the trees, celebrates the transformation of elements and the tuning of the World. Spring: birds bloom, trees sing. Since then, Metamorfose has also been the stage for the Murmúrio das Árvores (Murmuring of Trees) workshop.
