Biophilia and Sound: The Singing of Birds and the Aesthetics of Wellness

Dates: Thursday, May 1, 8 and 15, 2025

Location: AlMarsam Arts, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Directed by: Dr. Koncha Pinos, director of The Wellbeing Planet

Duration: 90 minutes

Prior registration required

General description

In this workshop we will explore the singing of birds as a natural form of perceptual harmonization and sensory well-being. Through original recordings of birds in the Colombian jungle, participants will be invited to an experience of deep listening, recognizing how these sounds have accompanied the human being in his processes of calm, orientation and inner balance since ancient times.

This sound experience will be connected to the work of the artist Duván López, whose paintings inspired by the jungle incorporate forms and rhythms that can be read as a visual response to natural acoustic patterns. During the workshop we will analyze how singing can be translated into stroke, color and pictorial fractality, recovering the idea – already present in Leonardo da Vinci’s studies – that nature is expressed both in vibrations and in forms.

Singing, perception and well-being

Numerous studies confirm that the singing of birds has a positive influence on mood, sustained attention and perception of time and space. In urban or desert contexts, exposure to natural singing generates a physiological pause, opening a space for sensory restoration.

The workshop seeks to generate an active link between listening, contemplation and creation, understanding singing as something more than sound: as a vital language that is transformed into art.

Contents and activities

• Introduction to sound biophilia and the aesthetics of well-being

• Directed listening to birdsong from the Colombian jungle

• Active observation of Duván López’s works related to flight, rhythm and expansion

• Exploration of fractal patterns between sound and form, from the perspective of Leonardo da Vinci

• Exercise: sensory translation of singing to the visual (line, color, space)

• Personal representation of what was heard

• Group dialogue on how the natural becomes a symbol through art

Who is it aimed at?

Aimed at:

• People interested in the connection between art, nature and well-being

• Artists, educators, designers, sound and perception researchers

• Lovers of birdsong and the secret language of the soundscape

• General public who wants to open their listening and broaden their view

No previous experience is required. Just the desire to listen carefully and create from what vibrates.