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. Developed through spring 2026 fieldwork at two Bufo bufo migration sites in Ticino – Muzzano/Sorengo and Magadino – it translates 74 days of amphibian migration records collected by WWF volunteers, weather data relevant to a toad’s sensory world, and insights from expert interviews into a layered soundscape. The project decenters the human perspective and frames listening as an ecological and ethical practice of care.
Read the research: Tuning to place.
The installation
Tuning to place sonifies six layers of weather-derived data points from Magadino and Muzzano/Sorengo over the 74-day amphibian migration season: temperature, precipitation, humidity, dryness, wind, and calm.
Most weather layers increase in volume when stronger. Temperature shifts the harmonic tone. One minute of sound represents one day.
Toad calls are spatially routed between Forest, Road, and Pond speakers according to migration direction; metal knocks mark road mortality; and visitor movement triggers field-recorded footsteps.
The sonification is generated in Pure Data running on a Raspberry Pi, which drives three bespoke speakers.
Forest
Necessary conditions for migration: above 5°C, high humidity, recent rain, no wind.
Road
Barriers and risks: traffic, roads, rail tracks, fences, residential areas, climate change, noise and light pollution.
Pond
Toads navigate using the Earth’s magnetic field, walking up to 3 km to breed where they were born.
Fieldwork soundscapes
Recorded with an AudioMoth in winter/spring 2026. Best heard through headphones.
Evening toad calls in Muzzano/Sorengo, 13 March 2026
Rainy sunrise with toads in Muzzano/Sorengo, 14 March 2026
Just after sunset in Bolle di Magadino, 20 March 2026
Dawn chorus in Bolle di Magadino, 21 March 2026