A project that creates music from the sound of bat calls is launching at Hospitalfield House arts centre in Arbroath in September.
Echo in the Dark will feature the echolocation sounds of Angus’ bat populations mixed in with the voice of creator Hanna Tuulikki.
Dubbed an “outdoor bat rave”, it will tour art venues across the UK after its Angus premiere.
Ms Tuulikki, a British-Finnish artist, musician and vocalist, says it explores the interconnections of raving and bat echolocating as a model for “ecological coexistence”.
Tuulikki, alongside Hospitalfield and Tayside Bat Group, has been working with communities in Arbroath and other areas of Angus since 2020 to collect the sounds of bats local to the UK.
The species featured include soprano pipistrelles, common pipistrelles, daubenton’s bats and brown long eared bats.
Created in collaboration with Scottish music producer Tommy Perman, each track focuses on a different bat species, using samples of their ultrasonic calls combined with the human voice to create an “ephemeral human-bat hybrid world”.
The bat raves will take place in the grounds of Hospitalfield on September 8, 9 and 10.
DJ’d by Tuulikki and Perman, visitors will be able to dance together in specially created rave-wear.
The theatrical gatherings will include choreography from movement director Will Dickie with a cast of dancers based in Tayside and Scotland.
Tuulikki says the project is a “love letter” to dance music and bats.
She said: “In the face of climate catastrophe, with Echo in the Dark, I’ve been keen to explore what ‘being ecological’ might look and feel like.
“Can we learn to coexist on a damaged planet with non-human others?
“How can we transform our anxiety to collectively navigate the unknown journey ahead?
“Can dance music and raving offer a space to come together to harness radical hope for the future?”
