Tuning to place

Designing attention through Ticino’s soundscapes

Tuning to place is a ground-focused spatial sound installation about our entanglement with local ecosystems. Based on spring 2026 fieldwork at two Bufo bufo migration sites in Ticino – Muzzano/Sorengo and Magadino – it translates 74 days of WWF volunteer migration records and weather data into a layered soundscape shaped by a toad’s sensory world. The project decentres the human perspective and frames listening as an ecological and ethical practice of care.

Read the research: Tuning to place.

Soundscapes recorded with an AudioMoth in winter/spring 2026.

Just after sunset in Bolle di Magadino, 20 March 2026

Evening toad calls in Muzzano/Sorengo, 13 March 2026

Best heard through headphones

Rainy sunrise with toads in Muzzano/Sorengo, 14 March 2026

Dawn chorus in Bolle di Magadino, 21 March 2026

Installation sonification

Tuning to place sonifies six layers of weather-derived datapoints from Magadino and Muzzano/Sorengo, over the 74-day amphibian migration season: temperature, precipitation, humidity, dryness, wind, and calm. Additionally, the installation plays toad calls, knocks, and footsteps on a path to indicate toads, mortality, and visitor engagement.