Chundua - Frog dreams

In spring 2022, Bonn-based urban sound artist Robin Minard travelled to the rainforest in northern Colombia for a biological research expedition. There he recorded the sounds and noises of the rainforest, in particular the great diversity of frogs that live in the area. For the indigenous Arhuaco people in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, frogs are associated with water, the source of life, and are therefore considered sacred animals.

Chundua, a mountainous region of the Sierra Nevada, is the heart of the world for the Arhuaco. According to their tradition, life, wisdom and the law have their origin here. They believe that all people need Chundua. But Chundua also needs people and their conscious interaction with the environment in order to maintain balance on earth.
The sound installation "Chundua - Frog Dreams" is inspired by an Arhuaco tale about the inhabitants of the Sierra Nevada. It is said that they lie in their hammocks and imagine themselves floating between the real and the spiritual world. In reference to this, the exhibition presents acoustic images of the Colombian rainforest in dream-like sequences in which materials are mixed and transformed through memory and imagination.

With his sound installation "Chundua - Frog Dreams" in the auditorium of the Museum Koenig Bonn, Minard immerses us in dream sequences of the diverse soundscape of this UNESCO biosphere reserve. This exhibition is the first project by ECHOES - Soundforum Bonn of the Beethoven Foundation for Art and Culture of the Federal City of Bonn to combine artistic and scientific research. For this year's annual theme of biodiversity, Bonn city sound artist Robin Minard, who has been appointed for 2022, is working closely with the herpetology research section at the Museum Koenig Bonn of the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB).